Still Breathing in the Ashes
by CorgisAreMySoul
Summary: Time was turned, thousands of heart attacks reversed. The dead were brought to life. Light Yagami, however, still became a murderer. A killer out of pure necessity: A ghoul. While adjusting to his new life after an ungodly experiment, Light must face against an unorthodox Kira and risk revealing his horrific true nature. AU, Slightly Ooc Light, Ghoul Light, Death Note Centric
1. Light's Original Tale

**_HEY READ THIS!_**

 **I warn you now that this chapter contains spoilers for the rest of the story and that you SHOULDN'T read it if you haven't already read up to Chapter 3 of the story.**

 **This is just a compiled chapter that re-tells the original story of Still Breathing In The Ashes. It's being rewritten, so these chapters are ultimately scrapped by yours truly. If you're going to do that 'Three-chapter-test' test, then don't include this chapter, as it's non-important and only exists to serve as a comparison to my current work.**

 **~This chapter is just what the original story was, and not what it will be.**

 **CAMB**

* * *

 _ **Prologue: Burning Desire**_

 **CAMB:** **This is my first fanfic so please be kind when reading.**

 **This is just a prologue to our story. This is a Death Note centric story, but it's also a Death Note / Tokyo Ghoul story. I freaking love crossovers.**

 **Some warnings for this chappie: A lot of religious ramble, like a whole heck lot.**

 **Light: Is it about me?**

 **L: You're not a god.**

 **Light: ~Flips him off~**

 **CAMB: Just sayin' it here, I don't own Death Note or Tokyo Ghoul. If I did own either, Light and L wouldn't be dead and Kaneki wouldn't be tortured (He's too nice to deserve that in the manga and anime).**

 **Light: Well good to know you don't want me dead.**

 **L: She wanted me to live too.**

 **Light: ~Flips him the bird... again...~**

* * *

 ** _Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can't build on it it's only good for wallowing in._**

 ** _~Katherine Mansfield_**

* * *

Fate is a fickle creature. A faceless entity. A god in its own way. The master of destiny. He changes our world constantly, writhing in agony over our poor choices and repetitive actions. To him, our lives are entertainment and if we fail to impress him, we must be changed.

When tragedy shakes the Earth, Fate turns back to us for his amusement. When our world settles back into its somber normality, he turns away in boredom. This is Fate's fatal problem.

There have been many times when our world was turned upside down because of one human's actions. We've seen it more than we can count. To Fate, this is the ultimate form of entertainment. He enjoys their blind crusade to an unreachable goal and early death, but writhes over how quickly his game ends. Fate is left to reset the chess board and hope for a new player to stumble upon his path, but there are exceptions to this rule.

Fate has always been determined to hate those who stir up the world; it's in his nature. He couldn't help but be displeased by their stubbornness against the natural order of the world. This is why he immediately dislikes whoever challenges the world's order… except for one man.

Light Yagami, Kira. Fate had wanted to hate this human, but couldn't bring himself to do so. The intentions he had were innocent, but he was corrupted by something as simple as a notebook. The thought that Yagami's path could have been to greatness instead of nothingness churned his proverbial stomach. People like this don't last long. They only come every century or so. The ending to his story was unsatisfying to Fate. He wanted more, he craved it. It was an alien emotion to him and he had to satisfy his desire for this chaos. He needed to change this.

Under the dominion of God, Fate had many restrictions on what he could and couldn't do, but he was still able to turn the wheels of time to his desire. He could change any little thing to his liking and have a completely different story to watch. His only restriction by God was that he could not change time more than three times every ten-thousand years. Fate had to use these changes carefully if he wanted to make his entertainment last. Another restriction was also set against him, however, it was by the Shinigami King and not God. The Shinigami King had fought furiously with God in order to have his demands fulfilled. Finally, after one hundred years in argument, the Shinigami King got his wish; Fate could not change one's life for the better nor kill of the human race with his actions. Fate, as a being that opens the gateway to death, was crucial to the existence of the Shinigami. If he were to favor humans, the Shinigami King, as well as his subjects, would all perish. If Fate wanted to change something for his amusement, he had to change something for the worse. The only loophole to this agreement was that it was up to God what was considered worse for the human race.

With this in mind, Fate had decided to go to the beginning of Light Yagami's story. He would change something, and it had to change for the worst. Although this is not what Fate had originally wanted, it would satisfy his need somewhat. Right there and then, Fate decided to make Light Yagami a killer, again. Not one out of desire.

A killer out of necessity. A ghoul. It was just a matter of when the time would be right to do so.

* * *

 **CAMB: Well... did you like it?**

 **L: ~Slowly raises hand~**

 **Light: No. I wasn't in this chapter.**

 **CAMB: Some main character you are...**

 **Light: Jerk...**

 **L: This is quite enjoyable.**

 **CAMB: Guys, this story needs a lot of love if it's going to get anywhere so please favorite and follow for updates. Reviews are always appreciated because I have no idea what I'm doing... at all...**

 **Expanation Time!**

 **\- Fate is a god, like one that rules in co-dominance with God. They keep each other in check and stuff so neither of them destroy the universe or whatever.**

 **\- The Shinigami King is a mortal being, like all the Shinigami. Remember guys, Shinigami can die. They can run out of lifespan (So if Fate's changes were to eliminate the human race, which is what the Shinigami kill to live, then all the Shinigami would die. This is why Shinigami King freaks out and goes haywire on God in order to get restrictions placed on what Fate can change) or they can save a human's life and die.**

 **\- Fate is the gateway to death, like I said in the chappie, because he leads to the deaths of humans to keep the world in balance. If the Shinigami were to kill all humans, they would die along with the human race. If they don't kill people for a few thousand years, the world would become overpopulated and, eventually, abandoned. God doesn't want his creations, the humans, to leave the Earth nor be completely erased from existence, so he appoints Fate to keep the world in balance when the Shinigami refused to kill or to stop killing.**

 **That's all for explanation time.**

 **Hope you enjoyed reading, I'm planning on adding a chappie every two weeks. My plan is to follow the anime episodes of Death Note (For at least the first season, but not including L's Death. He's not dying on my watch.)**

 **Light: Why not?**

 **CAMB: Cause he's a kawaii panda.**

 **L: Thank you?**

 **CAMB: You're welcome. That's all for this chapter folks!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter One: The Flame Is Lit**_

 **CAMB: Well Hello There!**

 **Hopefully the last chapter wasn't too much of a drag. In this chappie, we will be introducing our main character *AHEM* *LIGHT* *AHEM*.**

 **Light: Good, this story might finally get better now...**

 **L: I'd prefer if you chose someone else as the main character**

 **CAMB: ...You know you're one of them right?**

 **L: ...**

 **CAMB: Anyways, t** **his is also a fluffy chappie. The next chapter is where everything really picks up.**

 **Some warnings for this chappie: Metric ton of fluff. I mean, this is pretty much half of "Boredom" / "Rebirth" (The first episode of Death Note) with some minor changes in dialogue and perspective.**

 **Also I realized this just now, but is Fate an OC character? I mean he's more like the characterization of the concept of destiny and fate into a human-like figure. Damn, he's even petty like real human beings XD**

 **Light: He's a jerk, that's what he is.**

 **L: Debatable.**

 **CAMB: I do not own Death Note or Tokyo Ghoul. If I did, Soichiro wouldn't have kicked the bucket and Eto wouldn't be such a jerk.**

* * *

 **BOLD** = Author's note at beginning or end of chapter

 **'BOLD'** = Thoughts

 _Italics_ = ? ~hehe not yet hehe~ ?

"Quotes" = Dialogue

~Action/Noise~ = A certain character making that specific sound or action

* * *

 _ **When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.**_

 _ **~Jon Kabat-Zinn**_

* * *

Fate had his solution. He had informed God of the change he would be making. As he predicted, there was no resistance. Fate had played by every rule laid out for him. Surprisingly enough, the Shinigami King had also agreed with Fate's plan. Seems like he needed some excitement as well. The Shinigami King may just turn out to be a pawn for Fate after all...

Now it was just a matter of waiting.

He was waiting for one specific day. The day a Death Note would be dropped into the human realm, November 28, 2006.

* * *

 **Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Light was bored.

In actuality, he was always bored. There was just no challenge in everyday life. Everything was just too easy for this boy-genius. People like him can't stay contained in a world like this. The boundaries set are too small. He could do so much, yet is hindered by the incompetence of his peers. A simple, yet intricate issue.

It was boredom like this that led to him being observant. He couldn't miss a single thing. If he did, he was risking a chance at missing some excitement.

That is also why he noticed a black notebook drop from the sky and land on school grounds with a satisfying *plop*. A multitude of questions popped into his head as soon as his brain registered the unusual object falling from the sky. His mind was settling into these thoughts until—

"Yagami." The teacher interrupted, "Are you still with us? Can you please translate the following sentence into English?" The teacher asked.

Light internally sighed. **'Useless… menial tasks like this will not help me at all in the real world.'**

He made a mental note to check on that later. For now, he put his focus back to class and answered the question.

* * *

After class, he set out on my small mission to find the strange notebook. A few minutes of searching, he found it in the courtyard of the school. Light took in a few details of the book. It was completely black with English words printed on the cover. He ran his finger through the pages, he found that it was completely blank. This made him wonder if this was even used before. After skimming around a little longer, he found more English writing on the inside of the front cover. It seemed to be a set of rules.

He had a quick glance at the rules before bagging it and returning home.

 **'It's obvious this book is a prank. To think someone put so much effort into making some gag-joke book like this. It's completely pointless,'** he thought.

It was completely beyond him why anyone would even bother setting up an intricate prank like this. Maybe it was for the laughs, but even that was illogical in his eyes. This train of thought continued progressing until a loud announcement disturbed him from his thoughts.

"Today, at approximately 11 a.m., a thirty-two-year-old man was found stabbed to death in his apartment in the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. Kanagawa police are treating this case as homicide." The reporter continued shortly after, "In other news. Today, suspected murderer, Naoki Kokuji, was arrested in the district of Shibuya, Tokyo. He is being held in custody facing murder charges for the brutal slaying of his common-law partner, who was only twenty five at the time of her death."

Light's mood quickly went downhill after that. He remembered how repetitive this world was. It was disgusting. The same news, day in and day out. This world never changes.

 **'This world is… rotten.'**

This was his last thought of his trip home. He quietly reserved himself within his mind for the rest of the walk. There was no reason to aggravate himself over nothing. He needed to have is calm and reasonable 'mask' for his family when he returned home.

* * *

Light was greeted by his mother when he returned home. He handed her a few test results and marched straight into his room until disappearing from her sight. He dropped his bag on his desk as soon as he entered the room.

After a few seconds of rummaging, he pulls out the strange notebook. A quick look inside shows him the rules printed on the front cover from before. He takes his time reading them and lets it sink in afterwards. Again, he dismisses this thing as a prank. Instead, he decides to turn on the TV to take his mind off of the odd subject.

As soon as the television is switched on, an announcer blares this into the speakers, "The same assailant who attacked six people at a busy shopping district in Shinjuku yesterday has struck again, taking eight people hostage at this daycare center. His captives include both children and teachers. The police have now identified the suspect as forty-two-year-old Kurou Otoharada, currently unemployed. We expect negotiations to begin immediately."

Light's eyes drifted towards the odd notebook once again.

 **'So much for taking my mind off of it...'**

Another thought surfaced through his mind.

 **'If this notebook is a prank, then this man should be just fine. If it isn't…'**

His thoughts trailed off as he realized he was just burning time pondering what he should do. He wrote the name in the notebook. Now, it was just a matter of waiting…

And nothing happened.

Light smirked, **'Hmph. Turns out I was right after–'**

The announcer spoke again. Light was horrified. He may have just killed someone.

* * *

This was a coincidence.

It had to be. There was no way this man actually died because of this notebook. It was just some cruel, sick joke that fate **(1)** pulled on him. Whoever made this notebook was really twisted. Toying with people's minds like this was sick. But…

Was it really bad that this man died? He was obviously willing to kill all of these people for money. Who would miss people like this in the world? Who would want someone like this in the first place? He was jarred from these thoughts when his mother spoke.

"Light! It's six-thirty and you have cram school tonight!" She said.

He had to test it again. This was his chance. He needed to see if this thing was actually a murder-weapon.

"Just a few seconds," he sighed, completely consumed by exhaustion.

"I'll be down in a minute!"

Light stuffed the Death Note into his bag and headed out the door.

It was time to test this out for real.

...

Little did he know, Fate's plan was set into motion as soon as he went out the door...

* * *

 **Well... is it horrible yet?**

 **Light: Yes.**

 **L: There's a 47.5% chance that this will become horrible.**

 **CAMB: ~grumbles~ Well those are some great odds...**

 **Honestly, this story needs some feedback if there is something that needs to be improved, so please be kind and send a review.**

 **If you want this story to get some more action, then favorite and follow for the update of content.**

 **EXPLANATION TIME!**

 **(1). I just had to... it was too much of a good opportunity to miss. Sorry if the joke fell flat, but I couldn't resist this one.**

 **PREDICTION TIME!**

 **\- What kind of kagune will Light get? (I already have one in mind) (HINT: It's something Light has asked for before in the cannon series)**

 **\- What will happen to Light?**

 **\- What exactly did Fate plan for Light?  
**

 **\- Will Light stop being a pessimistic bitch?**

 **Light: HEY! I HEARD THAT LAST ONE!**

 **L: ~hehe~**

 **CAMB: ALL OF THESE WILL BE ANSWERED IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF DEATH-GHOUL-Z!**

 ***OH YEAH*  
I forgot this in the first version, but the next chappie has an action scene. Frick me, right? I'm looking for the best way to approach this one so please be patient. Expect another chapter in a week or so. Thanks for patience!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Crash And Burn**_

 **CAMB: Well hello there! Happy New Year to all!**

 **Sorry for not uploading this sooner, I was on a family vacation in Florida for the Christmas break and decided to take a breather from all my work and this. Hope you all had nice holidays and enjoyed yourselves over the break.**

 **Anyways...**

 **This chappie is where everything starts moving forward. The plot starts accelerating and Light is officially screwed over here.**

 **Light: Well thanks for that.**

 **L: I am indifferent to this argument.**

 **Just a warning for this chappie: Light violence (Ba dum tsss), some mild imagery, and insanity (Cause why not)**

 **Light: That pun was horrible.**

 **CAMB: Shut up, imagay.**

 **Just sayin' it here, I don't own Death Note or Tokyo Ghoul. If I did, Matsuda would be taken seriously more often and there wouldn't be so many characters in Tokyo Ghoul (Like wtf, I can't even keep track of how many people there are and some of them are really trivial).**

 **L: But Matsuda is our official coffee boy... *frowns***

* * *

 **BOLD** = Author's note at beginning or end of chapter

 **'BOLD'** = Thoughts

 _Italics_ = ? *hehe not yet hehe* ?

"Quotes" = Dialogue

*Action/Noise* = A certain character making that specific sound or action

* * *

 ** _Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive._**

 ** _~Jamais Cascio_**

* * *

 **Sachiko-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Something was wrong.

Her son never came home late. Never.

This was ringing bells and whistles in her head, but she chose to ignore them. No matter how much her instincts were telling her that something was wrong, it was all fine.

Hopefully…

 **'Probably not,'** Sachiko sighed.

Where could he be?

* * *

 **Mysterious Stranger-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

The job was quite simple.

Nab a kid from the street. Not too hard, right?

 **'Wrong,'** he thought.

There were too many factors that he needed to consider. For example, what if someone saw him? What would he do then? No, he had to think this through quite thoroughly in order to get the job done.

That's why he decided to hide in an alley-way, late at night in order to catch a kid from the nearby cram school. It was perfect.

Nobody would see him. It would be too dark.

The kid wouldn't be able to scream. People usually stay out of alley-ways, so nobody would hear them.

It wouldn't be hard to knock the kid out. They would probably be out of it from cram school.

It was fool-proof. He was pretty much wheezing with excitement at this point.

He just needed to wait for a young person to walk out...

* * *

 **1.5 hours later...**

The man sighed. His plan was pretty much a failure at this point.

With the science of probability, there was a good chance that at least one kid, ONE KID, would walk by his alley-way.

But no. The universe just hated him. He probably shouldn't have done this favor...

And then, at that very moment that he had doubted the universe, a brunette teenager walked by him. He silently had a fit of happiness (and a small bit of insanity) and jumped on his opportunity immediately.

 **'Guess I should doubt the universe more often,'** he chuckled.

With a dash, he was off and had his hands on the kid's shoulder. A distinct cracking sound could be heard from the alley when the youth halted in his step.

 **'*Hehe* This may be a bit too easy'**

The kid's face was pointed away from him, but the man could sense the uneasiness and fear radiating off of his body. The strange man took no haste in making threats.

"Look kid, I want you to **_scream_** as loud as possible, ya got that?," the insane man whispered delightfully into the teenager's ear.

Instead, the kid started dashing towards other end of the alley. The man wasn't letting go of his prey. Not yet at least.

"Come back here, boy!," the man exclaimed, "I just want to have some fun!"

The kid looked disgusted as soon as he heard that.

 **'*Heh* He doesn't seem to get that I'm messing with him'**

The man put his body into throttle and leaped after the young man. It wasn't too hard to catch up with him after all, this man wasn't exactly 'normal'.

"Let me put this another way," he continued, "I want you to **_bleed for me_**."

Before the kid could even register what he said, the strange man delivered a hefty kick to the young man's head.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the strange man, the teenager was completely knocked out.

Mission success.

The strange man pulled out a cell phone and dialed up his contact. After a few rings, a slightly displeased voice answers.

"Do you have _it_?," the voice on the other side of the line questioned.

"Yeh, I have it," the strange man said while rubbing his ear, "Keep your panties on and wait, I'll get _it_ to you."

In all honesty, the strange man wasn't irritated by his companion's eagerness at all. He was just curious as to how someone could be as impatient as him.

"Hmph," the other voice sighed, "Search its bag, we're going to need its medical records. I need some form of identification."

Of course, his job wasn't over even when it was over.

"Yes sir...," the strange man answered sarcastically.

"Good," the other voice answered, "That will be all for now."

"I'll deliver him soon."

"Then I can get started soon," the other voice answered.

"Well then I—"

"I have to go, my other subject needs... feeding... I'll see you later, _Yakumo,_ " the other voice interrupted.

"Goodbye then," Yakumo added, " _Kanou **.** "_

Yakumo hung up the phone and went straight to searching the adolescent's bag.

He was searching for I.D. when his hand bumped into a certain black notebook.

 **'Hmm? What's this...'**

* * *

 **Kanou-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

He was huffing.

Slowly, but steadily it turned into a chuckle. And then a laugh. Then one of madness. The disturbing sound was bouncing off the stained walls.

 **'It's just perfect,'** he laughed.

"Did you hear that, little ghoul?," he continued, "You're going to have a little company."

The small, shivering figure sat quietly in the dark. There was silence. Kanou's laugh died down and his contorted face slowly turned serene.

"*Hmph* still hungry then..."

Dr. Kanou paced around his 'private' lab. It was well hidden. It was an abandoned warehouse tucked into a corner of town that was presumably abandoned in the public's eye. Nobody would think to come near a place like this unless they were looking for trouble.

Finally after reaching what looked like an ordinary fridge, Kanou opened it an pulled out a chunk of stringy flesh.

"I don't need you to be hungry when _it_ gets here," Kanou said as he tossed the meat at the creature.

It dove at the meat without hesitation. The sound of crunching bones could be heard in the background.

 **'Disgusting... I'd be lucky if it doesn't take a bite out of the other one before the experiments start.'**

"I might need some more restraints after all..."

The small creature hissed at the man.

"Definitely."

Kanou set out to find a muzzle for his man-eating pet.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later...**

Kanou was bubbling with excitement now.

Yakumo was to arrive at any moment with his other subject.

His dreams were going to become reality.

 **'*Hehe* I can barely contain myself right now,'** he giggled

Finally, Yakumo slid through a rusted window on the northern wall of the warehouse. There was a large, blue duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Kanou was practically dying at this point.

"Well," Kanou said," Let me see him!"

Yakumo strategically placed the bag on the table. He did it in such a way so the 'contents' wouldn't stir or wake.

Kanou started to unzip the bag until Yakumo interrupted him.

"Ah ah ah, patience my friend." he smiled then his tone went dead serious, "First, where's my payment?"

 **'*Ack*, Of course.'**

Kanou knew Yakumo like the back of his hand. Of course Yakumo wouldn't do a 'favor' like this without some form of payment.

"Well you searched the young man's bag didn't you?"

"Yeah, and I found a student ID," Yakumo handed the ID card to Kanou.

"Did you find anything interesting in his bag?" Kanou asked as he examined the card.

It read " _Light Yagami, currently age 17, student at Daikoku Private Academy_ "

 **'I might be cutting it close with the age, but this should work. Still, I would have preferred someone a bit younger...'**

"Actually yes," Yakumo said, "Why? Do you want that too?"

"No," Kanou said, "Whatever it is, you can keep it. That will be your payment."

Kanou expected Yakumo to revolt against this, but he didn't. Whatever was in that bag must have really caught Yakumo's attention...

"Are you sure?"

Yakumo's face was critical. He was absolutely serious about the bag.

"Absolutely," Kanou waved him off, "All I need is this young man right here."

"Very well..." Yakumo changed the subject, "Why did you need someone like him anyways?"

"An idea came to me a while back..."

In reality, Kanou had no idea where his idea actually came from. As if by magic, the idea just popped into his head and he was compelled to go through with it. He had an odd feeling that this idea was something he would have thought of, but not completely his, in a sense. The best way he could explain it was to call it a paranormal experience.

"... and I decided to go through with it," he finished.

"You're not going to give me any hints, are you?"

"No. You will find out soon enough anyways," Kanou hinted.

"I'll be taking my leave," Yakumo said as he picked up the teenager's bag, "Thanks for the free stuff."

"No problem," Kanou chuckled, "It's not mine anyways."

Yakumo left through the same window that he entered with.

"Back to you, Mr. Yagami," Dr. Kanou said jovially as he turned to the unconscious body.

He unzipped the bag to reveal the young man's sleeping face.

 **'Good, Yakumo didn't stiff me this time.'**

Kanou blindfolded the adolescent and bound his hands together. He then set him inside the room with the now-muzzled creature.

"I suggest you get accustomed to your new friend," Kanou smiled eerily, "After all, you and him will be spending a _long_ time with one another."

Kanou shut and locked the door and started researching young man's medical records.

It was just a matter of time now.

* * *

 **Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

When Light woke up he was greeted by a dimly lit lightbulb in his line of vision. He blinked groggily and tried to sit up. He then realized that his hands were bound.

He gave up on trying to sit up and started thinking about where he could be.

 **'I was searching for someone to test the Death Note on and then...'**

It hit him. The man who jumped him must have kidnapped him. He could only fear for what was going happen to him...

"I removed the blindfold for you," a slightly high-pitched voice said, "I know you're awake. Your breathing's changed and you've been trying to sit up for the last five minutes, LOUDLY, mind you."

Light mentally face palmed and turned his body towards the source of the voice. His eyes fell upon a child, no older than 10 years old with blue eyes and hair. On the child's face was a dog muzzle. Light could only wonder why the child had it on, but he'd thought it better to ask.

"It was the best I could do with my hands being tied as well," he continued, trying to rub his nose against his shoulder. It was a little difficult to do that when your mouth was covered with a muzzle and your hands were tied behind your back.

"Thanks... I guess," Light said

"You're welcome."

An awkward silence fell between the two. Nobody knew what to say. They were just two strangers in the same exact predicament.

"Erm, I should probably introduce myself," Light said," My name is Light Yagami."

"Ayato," was the child's response. Ayato was clearly disinterested by this 'icebreaker' conversation.

"So uh, Ayato, do you have any idea as to why we're in here or where we are in the first place?"

"Not a clue."

It was obvious that Ayato wasn't trying or he's been here long enough to have given up hope of escaping. Light assumed it was the latter.

He decided to ask about the muzzle that's been bothering him for the last ten minutes.

"So," Light gave an awkward cough," Why are you wearing that, erm, muzzle on your face?"

"So I don't try and eat you."

Light stiffened at this.

 **'There was no way... right?'**

Goddamn...

...

...

...

He was stuck in a cage with a cannibal.

* * *

 **CAMB: Light couldn't be more wrong... lol.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chappie. I would have liked to extend it, but I wanted to get this out ASAP.**

 **Also, uh, sorry Ayato... for choosing you to be a part of Kanou's experiments ;-; (You don't deserve it). I was actually debating on whether or not making the ghoul that Light will be 'paired' with an OC, but I thought introducing a new character in a small amount of time wouldn't flow well with the rest of the story. I decided Ayato would be the best pick (Not that he did anything wrong or something) because he completely counters Light's personality and he would be fun to put into 'Kaneki-style-hallucination-sessions' (Yes, that's what I'm calling them.) as well as getting the kagune I want for Light. It works out well, but Ayato isn't getting the future I would have wanted for him...**

 **Well, this story needs some love if you want it to get some attention so please favorite and follow to get updates on story progression. Please leave a review, I need feedback to improve my writing style, story arcs, world consistency, etc.**

 **Do you know what time it is?**

 **...**

 **EXPANATION TIME!  
-Ayato is actually 7 in this story because Tokyo Ghoul presumably occurs during the year 2014. Bam, everyone's age in Tokyo Ghoul minus eight (Cause Death Note anime starts at 2006) and you have pretty much all characters' ages figured out. This worked out so well for me...**

 **-Yakumo is a real character, not OC. I just used one of his other names. I dare you all to figure out who he is without googling it. If you think you got it, don't comment or put it as a review. I want to torture my audience for a little bit :D**

 **-If it isn't obvious enough, Fate inserted the idea into Kanou's head. All he did was give Kanou a head start on his future experiments.**

 **-Ghouls are unknown in this world. Japanese government keeps it all under wraps (Like every government ever).**

 **-The beans are pretty much spilled about what kagune Light will get; it's a ukaku. Although there might be something else in the future ;D...**

 **Here's a bit of trivia too cause why not:**

 **-Ayato, in the dub, is actually voiced by the same guy that voiced Ling Yao from FMAB.**

 **-Ayato is self conscious about his height (awwww...)**

 **-Ayato likes tropical fish.**

 **-Ayato doesn't like worms.**

 **Light: Where the hell did that come from?**

 **CAMB: I said it was trivia...**

 **Light: You sure liked torturing me this chapter, didn't you?**

 **CAMB: No, you're actually my favorite character.**

 **Light: Wait, really?**

 **CAMB: I just wanted you to be a better person**

 **Light: *Disappointed Face* Of course...**

 **L: See, I've always told you that you were a bad person.**

 **CAMB: Well anyways, thanks for reading this chapter! I really like the support this story is getting, so keep it up guys! Next chappie should be released next week or so.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3: A Week In Hell (P.1)**_

 **CAMB: Yo, CAMB here!**

 **It's been quite a while .-.**

 **Don't worry tho, I'm still very invested in this story. I honestly rather get through with this part quickly and get to the actual appearance of Kira, but slow and steady wins the race.**

 **I felt this 'arc' should last two chappies cause it's about 6 days in total of imprisonment and one day of... well I wouldn't want to spoil that, would I?**

 **Light: I'm absolutely sure that she likes torturing me.**

 **L: A reasonable punishment for a mass-murderer of your caliber.**

 **CAMB: Oh btw, this chapter was originally called "TWO WEEKS IN HELL"**

 **Then I said, 'How in the hell can I make this freaking chapter work?'**

 **Thus, one week was removed from Light's hellish sentence.**

 **Light: *Sarcastically* Why, thank you.**

 **CAMB: Well anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I worked really hard to move this forward (Writer's block why u do dis?)**

 **L: If you sit as I usually do, then you can increase your deductive skills by 40%.**

 **CAMB: Then how can I write on my laptop?**

 **L: ...**

 **CAMB: Moving on, j** **ust a warning: Mild language, Mild violence and blood, and a lot of Tokyo Ghoul terminology.**

 **I do NOT own Tokyo Ghoul or Death Note. If I did, Mello wouldn't be such a prick and Touka wouldn't be so** **ė̷͖̝̌ ̶̗̀d̷̼̕ ̵̥̈́g̵̭͔͝ ̶̧̐̀y̷͓͂̅.**

 **Without further adieu, let the chapter begin!**

* * *

 **BOLD** = Author's note at beginning or end of chapter

 **'BOLD'** = Thoughts

 _Italics_ = ? *hehe not yet hehe* ?

"Quotes" = Dialogue

*Action/Noise* = A certain character making that specific sound or action

* * *

 ** _Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend._**

 ** _~Melody Beattie_**

* * *

 **Day 1 - Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Light had decided that it was for the best if he ignored his 'cell-mate' for a while. At least, until he could be comfortable enough to ask him more questions about where they are and why they're there.

Instead, he started to examine the room he was trapped in with his... companion. Ayato was currently sleeping, so he would have as much time as he needed to observe. The walls were painted with multiple stains, some of which looked disturbingly similar to that of blood. He had already figured out about the concrete floor, mostly because he had already had the right side of his face acquainted with it for multiple hours. The room had a odd... musk to it that set him off slightly. It is almost as if someone _had_ been murdered in this room.

He pointed his line of sight at the ceiling. Surprisingly enough, there were two vents located on opposite sides of the small room. He started hatching an idea immediately.

 **'Both vents are completely silent. It's most likely that they are both not operating at the moment. If I can somehow pry one of the vents open, there's a possibility it will lead out of the room. That is, if I even pick the right vent in the first place...'**

His mouth was turned in disdain. That 'if' was _**exceptionally**_ unlikely to ever happen.

He would first have to get his hands out of the binding, which was already impossible unless his captor purposely removed them. Then he would have to choose the proper vent. Since there were two vents, it was very probable that there was a fan blocking the two vent shafts from connecting. There was a fifty-fifty chance that he would pick the correct one. Only one of the vents would actually lead to other rooms. The other would most likely lead to the cooling unit, which wouldn't help him at all in this situation since most AC units were closed containers at the outside of a building. Getting up to the vents would be a completely different challenge on its own. He would need to somehow acquire a ladder which is extremely unlikely that he would ever attain. If he did pick the correct vent, then he would somehow have to sneak past his captor without being detected. To add to that, this plan would be impossible without knowing the layout of the building.

Ultimately, his goal of escaping this room was unattainable.

He sighed in contempt. Maybe it was time to milk some information out of Ayato.

"Hey, Ayato. Are you awake?"

"What?" Ayato groaned in annoyance. It seemed like he really didn't want to talk with Light.

"Do you know anything about this place?" Light asked innocently.

"Not really..." Ayato paused for a moment, "Actually, there is one thing..."

Light motioned for him to keep going.

"The man that owns this building is called 'Kanou'. Other than that, I don't really know where we are or anything about the place," he shrugged.

"Well..." Light sighed, "At least we know who to blame for this."

 **'Still, why am I here. Why is Ayato here? I don't think I've ever met someone named Kanou... maybe? I don't think I've ever done something to make a person upset, unless...'**

It cogs turning in Light's head clicked; The Death Note. There's a good chance that Kanou wanted that, after all, it was an easy way to get rid of someone you don't want without getting your hands dirty. Light didn't have his bag, so his captor probably took the book with him. He was at the mercy of this man.

However, there were two things wrong with Light's theory:

1\. Why was Light was still alive?

2\. Why was Ayato with him?

Light thought it was a fine time to poke into Ayato's past with Kanou.

"Did you know Kanou before my, uh, kidnapping?" Light said. He wasn't really sure what to call his abduction... incarceration? He did kill a person with the notebook and at this point, the guilt was finally getting to him.

"Nope," Ayato disavowed, "I just wanted to join Aogiri Tree and I ended up here. They said they needed 'someone just like me' for an experiment."

"Aogiri Tree?" Light questioned without thinking. He probably should have been more concerned with the fact that Ayato was supposed to be in an experiment, but that glossed over his mind.

"Wait, you don't know what that is?" Ayato asked in disbelief, "I guess they don't tell people about us anymore..."

"About 'us'?"

That seemed to ring a cord in Ayato. He probably realized that he was letting Light onto something most people don't and shouldn't know about.

"Even though my face is covered, I could still eat you. Stay away from my business," he suddenly threatened, fully aware of his blunder.

"Fine," Light grudgingly replied, "I don't know what you are hiding, but you're going to spill at one point. I have all the time in the world right now."

"Baka..." Ayato muttered, quite childishly. He looked ready to throw a tantrum if Light prodded any further.

There was something odd about this. Light couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something more to his kidnapping, and he didn't think it had something to do with that cursed notebook anymore. The Death Note was just insult to injury.

* * *

 **Day 2 -** **Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

After a whole evening of not speaking to Ayato, Light finally got some shut-eye from his living-nightmare.

The next morning, he was greeted by Ayato's blue-purplish eyes.

"GAH!," he cried, banging his head on the concrete floor whilst expressing his surprise.

" _Now_ you're awake," Ayato stated smugly.

"Why'd you wake me up?" Light said in a slight daze.

"Kanou walked into the room about an hour ago. He said he was going to introduce himself to you formally, but you were asleep. He should be coming back in a few hours..." Ayato trailed off.

Light's grew slightly wary as he absorbed what Ayato said.

His opinion on the man who captured him was more or less neutral. You'd think he'd be absolutely beaming with hatred at the man, but it was all reasonable when Light pieced it together. If this man wanted the Death Note, then he chose the right person to kidnap. That's that. Light just happened to be the guy that had what he wanted.

In fact, he would probably die at any moment.

But this situation was different. What could Kanou possibly want from Light now? What would he gain from confronting him? The only answer would come to him if he waited.

Patience is a virtue Light didn't have, but his options were limited. He would just have to make space for it;

Even if it killed him.

* * *

 **Day 2 (Evening, Approximately 6 hours later) -** **Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Light was staring at the ceiling for the 517th time that day. At the moment, he counted 787 cracks on the ceiling, the walls, and the floor combined.

To put it bluntly, he was quite bored. Again. Not to mention, he was starving as well.

In fact, he was so deep in his stupor of boredom, that he didn't even notice his kidnapper walk into the room.

Ayato made an odd grunting sound at Light, signaling the man's appearance.

Light drowsily turned his head towards the insane kidnapper. His eyes were lidded as he faced his abductor, mostly from the lack of sleep and the uncomfortable concrete floor he's had to sleep on.

The man had a metal briefcase at his side.

The man was also wearing a mask, as to not let Light on to his appearance. That or the man was just hideous.

Light definitely leaned towards the first possibility.

The mask was completely plain, completely white with no absolute pattern.

The man stared down Light through the small holes that were masterfully placed exactly where his eyes should be. It was almost as if the man was analyzing him.

"Hello, Mr. Yagami," the man greeted, "My name is Dr. Kanou."

Light didn't respond to this. Instead, he waited for Kanou to continue.

"Well, you must have gotten my name from that _thing_ in the corner. Quite incredible it can 'replicate' speech, is it not?" Kanou questioned as he gestured towards Ayato, who was now curled into fetal position.

Light raised an eyebrow at the doctor's antics. Why was he dehumanizing Ayato? He was definitely missing something here. Better to wait and see.

"*Ahem* Anyways, I would like to ask you some simple questions. Will you answer them?" Kanou's tone hinted that Light really didn't have an option in answering.

Yet, he remained silent as a form of protest.

"Please don't make my work difficult, I rather finish this process quickly. I'll take your silence as a yes for now," Kanou said hastily, "Now, the first question: What is your blood type, Mr. Yagami?"

Light continued his silent rebellion. They sat in stillness for a good two minutes until the Doctor responded. Ayato made a whimpering sound before Kanou spoke.

"Well, I suppose you didn't hear me the first time I spoke," Kanou raised his hand above his head and dealt a hefty slap to Light's face.

As Light's face stung with pure agony, Kanou asked his question again, "What is your blood type?"

His words were dripping with malice this time.

Light choked out a half-hearted "A", ashamed that he could be swayed so easily.

Kanou made a sound of satisfaction.

 **'The bastard must be smiling underneath that moronic mask of his...'**

Unable to successfully appease the stinging sensation plaguing his face, Light rubbed his right cheek against his shoulder distastefully.

"I suppose that questions was a bit pointless after all, the other one is type O," Kanou said cheekily.

Light's eye started twitching uncontrollably at this man's unnecessary cruelness. Then he realized...

 **'The other one...?'**

"Never mind that, let's continue," the Doctor said with much enthusiasm, "Question two: Are you right-handed or left-handed?"

"Both," Light responded immediately. He wasn't risking another slap to his face.

"Ambidextrous, are we?" Kanou playfully questioned.

Was this man bipolar?

"Well," Kanou continued, "I suppose it doesn't matter which direction. I myself am partial to my right hand, so right it is."

The Doctor waited a few seconds for any sign of disapproval of Light. There were none other than the distasteful scowl directed at Kanou.

"I'll assume that is a yes," Kanou smiled, "Lastly, do you know what Ayato _is_?"

"A... child...?" Light asked with his head turned sideways. His mind was addled with confusion.

Ayato let out a primal whine, much like an animal surrounded by predators.

"Well," Kanou drawled as he lifted the silver case he was carrying, "Why don't I show you?"

Kanou gave a quick hum as he pressed the button on the case's handle. Light was dumbfounded when the metal case turned into a weapon resembling a scimitar with jagged teeth.

The weapon was highlighted with wonderful hues of blue and green along the blade and red along the hilt, headlining an aura of tranquility, yet still showcasing an emotion of rage.

It was almost as if the sword itself was a feeling.

"This," Kanou lifted the sword above his head, "Is a quinque." he said as he swung it through the air, creating a *whoosh* sound as it sliced through the empty space.

"It's a made of a metal casing and electrical wires to stimulate the RC cells inside the main component," Kanou described, "Simply put, it's a scientific marvel with a biological power source."

Light couldn't be more lost. The idea of something like this is completely preposterous; it just couldn't exist. Not with the technology they currently had.

"Although, the most important component to this spectacular weapon is," Kanou gestured towards Ayato, "A ghoul."

"Ghoul?" Light questioned, completely lost in thought.

"Let me explain, Mr. Yagami," Kanou continued with his scientific explanation, "Ghouls are creatures that closely resemble human beings in appearance and anatomy however, there are multiple things that separate them from being human. First off, they eat human beings to survive. At most, a ghoul can survive about a month before needing to eat another human."

Light came to an immediate realization. Ayato _is_ a ghoul.

It made so much sense now. Ayato had threatened to eat him, and unless he was a cannibal, it would make total sense for him to do so.

That also means Light has been trapped with one of the most deadly predators to human beings. And survived.

"Secondly," Kanou continued, "They have an extremely high metabolic-rate which allows them to heal any wound inflicted almost immediately."

Before Light could even think about what Kanou said, the Doctor raised the scimitar-like blade and cut through Ayato's leg. It went through the flesh like knife to butter. Blood splattered across the floor and walls and the puddle that surrounded Ayato's now-wounded leg was ever-growing.

If there was one thing Light would never forget about this experience, it was Ayato's bloodcurdling scream that followed his untimely impalement.

Ayato's face was streaming with tears as his leg was repairing itself at a rate that was truly inhuman.

There were not doubts in Light's mind now; Ayato wasn't human.

After a few minutes, the leg was just like new. The only difference between the old and new leg were the slightly-darker nails that stood out on Ayato's foot.

"Unfortunately," Kanou explained, "The ghoul body cannot suppress the formation of scar tissue." Kanou said to explain Ayato's different nail tone.

"Another difference between ghouls and humans is that ghouls are completely unable to eat 'human' food," Kanou factually stated, "This is mostly due to the fact that their digestive systems are only made to digest human flesh and sometimes, ghoul flesh. That's not the only thing stopping them from eating however; their tongues have specialized taste buds that are meant to make the taste of humans quite delectable to ghouls. Anything else would taste absolutely horrific to them."

Light filtered this information through his mind. Immediately, he held a grudge towards ghouls. It didn't matter if they wanted to live or not; if they killed people, they deserve to die.

Hell, some of the sadistic bastards probably enjoy killing people. They probably get a kick out of it. Light's blood was boiling with rage towards the newly introduced species.

Yet, he kept his mouth shut in fear of his captor's wrath.

"Finally, the most important distinguishing factor from humans is," Kanou gave a pause for dramatic effect, "Their predatory organ, or the kakuhou. It is composed of special cells called 'RC cells' that can be used to form a kagune, which is the ghoul's predatory weapon. It is also the main biological component of the quinque I showed you earlier."

An extra organ. Just another thing that distinguishes these wolves disguised as sheep. With every word the Doctor spouted out, the worse Light's mood became.

"Right now Ayato is suppressed by something I gave him earlier," Ayato cringed in the background as Kanou spoke, "But maybe later, when it's worn off, we can demonstrate what a kagune looks like."

Light's head was bubbling with anticipation. Not because of the demonstration of the ghoul's special power, but the idea that the Doctor would leave in a few minutes.

"Any questions before I head off?" Kanou innocently asked.

Before Kanou could walk off, Light answered.

"Heart attack after 40 seconds," Light stated, "What does that sentence mean to you?"

"I'm not familiar with what you're talking about," Kanou declared, "Should I know something about this?"

Light shook his head no. After a few seconds of hesitation, Kanou took a water bottle out of his bag and unscrewed it. He then placed it on the floor.

"I'll leave this here for you," Kanou said, "After all, I don't want you dying of dehydration."

Kanou then took his leave from the dark and musty room.

Something was definitely wrong now. Kanou didn't want the notebook nor did he seem to have it, so why was Light here? What the hell was Kanou planning? Light needed to put the pieces of information he gained during his interrogation together.

Kanou wanted his blood type. Although the Doctor said it was unimportant afterwards, the question still stood. Not to mention, the doctor mentioned 'the other one' having type-O blood. It was something medical related. Definitely.

Now Light figured out that the Doctor definitely wanted to do _SOMETHING_ to him. He was disturbed beyond belief, but continued speculating his future.

Another piece of evidence that Kanou gave him was when he asked him for his dominant hand. He wasn't exactly sure how this related to the situation at hand...

Maybe it would piece together later.

Lastly, there was the talk about the humanoid creatures. Ghouls.

 **'If Kanou thought it was important information, then why would he mention it to me?'**

He had to think it out for a minute.

...

...

Light + Blood type + Ghoul Information = ...

...

...

Shit.

Kanou was going to do something involving him _and_ Ayato.

A slow rumbling sound ached through Light's body.

Shit.

He was starving.

* * *

 **Day 2 - Kanou-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Kanou thought that it was a great idea to introduce himself. That, and he wanted to see his future-experiment up close.

His preparations would go along much more smoothly now that he had some extra information.

The blood type he asked for was completely useless. Not only because the **_other one_** was type-O, but also because he had the young man's medical records as well.

It isn't hard to find everything known about a person when you work for the government.

The CCG definitely gave him perks when it came to 'personal' research.

He had a building for his research purposes, a quinque for 'personal' defense, and all the funds he needs to pull off his experiments.

In reality, everything was set up in his favor. Nobody questioned his actions; in their eyes, he was researching for a way to rid the world of humanity's only enemy.

But, he wasn't.

His idea was innovative, but it wasn't to the benefit of mankind. It was to balance the world, not make it one sided.

If the war between man and ghouls were to ever end, it would have to be negotiated by someone who was both.

Light Yagami would fit that bill in a few days.

With human compassion and emotion and ghoul precision and strength, Kanou would create a new being that is capable of being the next best species.

Past experiments have failed, and the CCG's Reaper shows that major mistake. But Kanou's experiment would end differently.

All it took was a different organ to change everything.

His research was nearly complete at this point. Now he just needed to find the best way to execute his plan and to not kill his 'patient' in the process.

It was going to be difficult, nobody had to tell him that, but he was determined to make this dream a reality. Even if it started a war. Even if it destroyed a person's life.

No matter how wrong it was.

* * *

 **Day 2 - Ayato-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Ayato's leg still stung from the Doctor's cruel demonstration. The trails of tears that painted his face were now dry.

Now he was just feeling humiliated. After all, it was hard to make friends with someone when they learn you're a bloodthirsty monster that only eats people for a living.

Light was looking away from him and Ayato was starting to feel the intense air in the room. It was probably a good time to ease the tension.

"Sorry," Ayato said reluctantly, "For, you know, ... threatening to eat you..."

"You're disgusting," Light said sharply, "How can you live with yourself if you eat people?"

"I don't like it either," Ayato rebutted, "It's not like we do it cause' we want to. We _have_ to, or else we'll die."

"Well then," Light persisted, "Here's a question that could change my opinion of you right here and now: Do you _enjoy_ killing people?"

"No," Ayato answered honestly, "But that's only because where I come from, we eat suicide victims."

"Then you're not as horrible as I first thought," Light said while Ayato sweat dropped in the background.

"You don't need to be rude about it..." Ayato grumbled.

"But you still eat people," Light continued, "So you're not all that high and mighty."

"I don't eat for fun," Ayato declared, "I always try to put as much space in between eating, okay? I really try... a lot..." Ayato was on the verge of tears. After all, he's only seven. That, and the fact that it wasn't fun getting blamed for being a man-eating beast.

"Fine," Light finally submitted, "You're trustworthy."

Ayato gave a smile at that through his muzzle.

"But I wouldn't trust you with my life, Ayato," Light said.

"It's okay," Ayato announced, "That's one step farther, I guess."

The tension in the room dissipated slightly and everything went a little calmer.

Ayato was successful at calming his companion.

And making a friend.

* * *

 **CAMB: *Breathes In* The ending for this chapter was _sooooo_ satisfying for me. It is just a little cute \\(^-^)/**

 **My fave scene was Kanou torturing Light though. I guess I can be really sadistic sometimes .-.**

 **Light: I may trust Ayato, but I definitely don't trust you. At all.**

 **L: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so this writer is now the second friend I've ever made.**

 **CAMB: *o* (i feel special)**

 ***Ahem* Anyways, do you know what time it is?**

 **Light: Time for you to have a heart-attack?**

 **CAMB: O_O; uhhhh, no...**

 **It's EXPLANATION TIME!**

 **1\. oke, so this chapter was separated into two parts cause**

 **-I'm too lazy to write everything in one shot**

 **-It's six days in imprisonment, so it can be split up nicely**

 **-I want to have a consistent chapter word count**

 **2\. Light hates ghouls because I applied the mentality he had towards criminals. His ideology is "NO MERCY" so I thought he could be the same exact way towards ghouls. It just makes sense for his character.**

 **3\. Ayato is not a rebellious teen yet, so he has a crying-pass.**

 **4\. Kanou is bipolar cause why not?**

 **5\. Don't worry, Soichiro knows that his son is missing. That will be addressed next chapter.**

 **And that's all.**

 **Also, just from me here, I'm having the WORST time trying to fit in some comedy relief in this chapter. It's just, this is a lot of serious shit and we need something to just break the tension I'm setting down.**

 **L: You can always insert an unfunny and very badly timed pun as I usually do.**

 **CAMB: -_-; No.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. This is the longest one I've written so far. Please favorite and follow for the update of content and please DO leave a review. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and it would help. A lot.**

 **Next chapter is part two. It should be released within two weeks.**

 **Thanks for reading :D BYE!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4: A Week In Hell (P.2)**_

 **CAMB: YO! I'm dead inside .-.**

 **Midterms got me ;-;**

 **Now that those are done I can get back to writing.**

 **Now remember how I said that this would be split into two chapters?  
**

 **Yeah, I lied.**

 **Light: Seems fitting for you.**

 **CAMB: ;-; ouch**

 **I seem to put so much detail into each day that It's just too much to have three days in one chapter.**

 **This will now be split into three parts. Sorry if that seems pushed, but I want to keep a consistent 4000 - 6000 word count from now on.**

 **Also, I haven't even addressed how great the support for this was. Thanks to all followers, favorites, and reviewers! Every bit of support helps!**

 **Someone also mentioned in the review section that the description I gave to Kanou would make him a good person.**

 **It was kind of what I was going for there, so good to know the message came across. I wanted the main message to be that "he's trying to do good the wrong way". He's trying to improve the world, but the approach he has is morally incorrect.**

 **Guess what? I wrote this chapter in two days. My obsession is unhealthy.**

 **L: But my sweets aren't, right?**

 **CAMB: Very unhealthy.**

 **L: *Cries***

 **CAMB: ...**

 **Anyways! Let's get to the good stuff!**

 **Just sayin' it here, I don't own Tokyo Ghoul nor Death Note. The only thing I own in this chapter is the maintenance intern "Joe".**

 **Nobody likes Joe.**

 **Just a warning for readers (READ THIS): Major Ayato backstory spoilers (Yes, from the manga), mild violence, themes about depression, triggered Ayato, and self-discovery Light.**

 **From now on, ALL chapters have a curse word warning. I'm getting too lazy to write that warning each chapter.**

 **I decided I'm not using Japanese honorifics in this story. Not only because It's hard to remember all of them, but also because the dubs try very hard to be 'english' so I'm sticking with the titles they use in those. Don't get mad about this, It's my decision.**

 **I wrote the second half to this chapter to opening 10 of One Piece. Listen if you want to follow my thought process.**

 **Without further adieu, enjoy!**

* * *

 **BOLD** = Author's note at beginning or end of chapter

 **'BOLD'** = Thoughts

 _Italics_ = If italics are within a flashback separator, they are regular text / Enunciated text outside of flashback separators

 _"Italics"_ = Dialogue within flashbacks

 _'Italics' =_ Thoughts within flashbacks

"Quotes" = Dialogue

*Action/Noise* = A certain character making that specific sound or action

 **oO**Oo** = Flashback Line Separator

* * *

 _ **"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel lig** **ht. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears."**_

 _ **~Glenn Clark**_

* * *

 **DAY 3 - Soichiro-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

There's something wrong with you if it takes a blackout to notice that your son has been missing for two days straight.

At least, that's what Soichiro thought.

It was about six in the morning when he first learned about this...

 **oO**Oo**

 _It was a rough night for the police force; they were in the middle of a conspiracy-murder case that was introduced to them four days earlier._

 _The superintendent had them staying late for three days in a row and asked them to stay two whole nights to speed up the process._

 _Of course, the older man couldn't leave the task to his co-workers. Especially since he was the chief._

 _So the investigation went on for about 10 hours since his second shift started, and he hadn't had a break since._

 _Living on the taste of his coffee and the fumes of the computers working overtime, he had to stay conscious for this case. It may end up being his last if he wasn't sharp._

 _Still, he couldn't help but be exhausted. After all, it's human nature._

 _He told his wife the night before his extended shift that he wouldn't be home in time. It wasn't a surprise to her, he usually never came home anyways._

 _But now he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. That instinct that usually only kicked in when it was really important._

 _It was probably better to ignore it for now._

 _The room was silent except for the clicking and clacking of computer keyboards. Everybody was too tired to make a noise._

 _Except Matsuda; Matsuda was **always** loud._

 _Matsuda had started snoring loudly for the last two minutes and it had been driving everyone in the room insane. Finally, Aizawa, the savior of the Police Department, gave multiple hearty pokes in succession to Matsuda's stomach and, eventually, the young officer woke up giggling uncontrollably._

 _"STOP, THAT TICKLES!" Matsuda squealed through the laughter._

 _The chief sighed. It was going to be a **long, long** night._

 _Then suddenly, as soon as Matsuda calmed down from his tickle-induced fit, the power completely blacked out._

 _Everyone in the room simultaneously groaned._

 _'That's hours of work out the window...'_

 _The whole force sat in silence as they waited for maintenance to assess the problem._

 _Finally after what seemed like ages, a young man walked into the room armed with a clipboard and a flashlight. He cleared his throat excessively before speaking._

 _"So, uhhh, t'seems like we got a blackout," the young man said, his voice cracking on nearly every syllable of the word 'blackout'._

 _"Thanks, Sherlock," Matsuda muttered. Aizawa then jabbed his desk-mate, once again, in the stomach._

 _"The grid should be fixed in, uhhh, maybe three hours? No, uhh, maybe five tops," the young man said enthusiastically while holding his fingers up, displaying the numbers he had just stated. His face was etched with one of those forced smiles that a store clerk or waiter usually put on for customers._

 _"T'also seems like the generator is busted too, so we got no backup electricity yet."_

 _Was this man's job delivering bad news?_

 _"The boss says you guys can take the next day or so off, the power probably won't be consistent for at least a day. But–"_

 _As soon as the young man spoke his first sentence, the whole room rose from their seats and started heading towards the doors._

 _The intern started panicking immediately._

 _"Whoah! Guys, uhh, I meant the boss said you COULD leave, like only if you need to... or something..." the young man said desperately in order to keep his job, "At least five of you stay, please?" The young man was panting frantically, looking ready to drop from stress at any second._

 _Soichiro decided to be the better man and stay along with the rest of the detectives. Slowly but surely, he raised his hand as tribute towards staying at the Police Department._

 _"I'll stay," the Chief confidently stated. A few other officers raised their hands hesitantly but nonetheless certainly to support their colleague's cause._

 _For half a second, Soichiro swore he heard the young intern wheeze out a breath of relief._

 _"Great!" the young man declared over-enthusiastically, "The rest of you can go home."_

 _A globular mass of human beings squeezed through the door as soon as the intern dismissed them._

 _"For the nice lot of you," the newly-hired intern continued, "You should probably call your families to tell them that you're staying here. Uh, mostly because the boss called everyone's emergency contacts saying there's been a blackout... and they think you're coming home..."_

 _Soichiro took a deep, deep breath. It was time..._

 _to call his wife._

 _He'd had his cell phone off during the entirety of his shift and it was just waiting in anticipation for its time to shine. That time has come. Now._

 _He excused himself from the room for a few quick moments and dialed up the Yagami house phone. Before he could press the call button, he noticed the **numerous** , **stupendous** amount of missed phone calls he got from his dear wife. He started getting really sweaty. It couldn't have been something good._

 _After a moment of hesitation, Soichiro pressed the button that would most likely lead to his death by the hands of his screaming wife._

 _A few rings later and he was greeted by the sound of his wife screeching into his ears. He recoiled at the first shriek and had to keep the cell phone two feet from his face before feeling confident enough to bring the weapon-of-deaf back to his ears. Once again, he took a deep breath and braced for the experience that would be this phone call._

 _He brought the object back to his ears, prudent to prevent deafness to his already aged ears._

 _"Hello dear!" he cried in a tone that stressed over-enthusiasm, "I know that the director just called you saying that there was a blackout, but I volunteered to stay with the other detectives. I just wanted to let you know... that I..."_

 _Soichiro stopped talking when he realized something. Something that changed the gravity of this conversation for the worst._

 _His wife was sobbing._

 _"What's wrong?"_

 _As if a switch had flipped in Soichiro's brain, the words he spouted out where completely serious and lined with concern. It couldn't have been good if Sachiko was crying; his wife was a strong soul. She wouldn't cry if the world was ending. At least, that's what he thought before now._

 _"He's gone," Sachiko spurted out in between choked sobs, "Light hasn't been home in two days, Soichiro. I don't know what's happening anymore."_

 _'What?'_

 _He knew his son, for the most part. This isn't something he would do. Not ever. There's no way in **hell** that his pride and joy would disappear like this. There's no way this could happen._

 _Right?_

 _Unfortunately for him, it had to be real. There was no other reason as to why his wife was crying._

 _He knew his son didn't do this, at least, not on purpose. He could only fear that the worst had happened to his only son. He wasn't going to lose a child. He was going to do something._

 _Nothing else mattered except that._

 _After what seemed like an eternity since his wife's shattered response, Soichiro finally mustered up the courage to reassure his torn and broken wife._

 _"I'm coming home," Soichiro answered._

 _'Forget about work, this is more important.'_

 _His wife didn't protest, she knew as well as he did that this took their first priority. They exchanged some solemn formalities and disconnected the call._

 _With the weight of the world sitting on his shoulders, Soichiro walked in to the room, face etched with one excruciating emotion:_

 _Grief, that bereft devil. Soichiro wanted nothing else except his son. He could get fired for all he cared. It wouldn't matter if his family was broken apart._

 _The previously jovial detectives that occupied the room now seemed to match Soichiro's gloomy mood. Noticing their concern over his emotional health, he quickly went over with his announcement._

 _"I'm going home," Soichiro said blandly. Before anyone could oppose his decision, he added, "Something's happened at home..."_

 _And just like that, he took a few somber steps before reaching out to the door and embarking towards his family in need._

 _Right before he closed the door he heard one of his colleagues._

 _"Chief..."_

 _They cared. That was all that mattered to him. He was surrounded by people who had compassion. That's all he could ask for._

 _He remembered this sentiment and started his journey to his abode._

 **oO**Oo**

It was about the tenth time his wife explained what had happened. Even after all that, the story still made no sense. There was no reasoning behind his son's spontaneous departure and absence.

None that he could see.

If they wanted a hostage, they could have taken Sayu. It was the easier option for any criminal to take the youngest child when it came to having a ransom.

The 'hostage theory' was also shot down by another thought Soichiro had. If anyone had wanted a ransom for his son, they would have started demands already. This wasn't the behavior of a criminal. Not your run of the mill criminal, anyways.

As of now, the only thing he could do was file a missing persons report and hope for the best.

He couldn't help but wonder what horrors Light could be going through right now.

* * *

 **DAY 3 - Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Light and Ayato were in the middle of a game of 'bloody tic-tac-toe'. The rules of the game were simple:

It was just tic-tac-toe but instead of using a pen or marker to play the game, they used Ayato's bloody toe as a writing utensil. Other than the odd choice of a writing instrument, the game was turning out to be quite entertaining. At the moment, it was satiating both of their uneasiness and making their situation seem more like a forced family get-together instead.

The downside to their little game was the smell of blood, pain, and amount of space they had to work with. At the moment, they had played about 34 games, all of which had been won by Light. If the two of them kept playing at this rate, they would have to start playing on the walls in about 30 minutes.

"How are you so good at tic-tac-toe? I always used to beat Touka at this kind of stuff..." Ayato complained, clearly upset about the most recent loss.

'Touka?'

Light nearly slapped himself in the face at his sudden realization. Well, he would have if his hands weren't bound behind his back. Ayato probably had a family. Parents, maybe even siblings too. How had he been so insensitive to this fact?

Any creature could have a family, even ghouls. His opinion was weighing now. Could it be that ghouls and humans are alike in other ways?

Physicality apart, it was most reasonable to think so. He'd completely pushed aside the notion that these creatures could feel. In that moment he hated himself.

How could he look down on them when he was being so indifferent?

Right there and then, he put aside his feelings against the human-counterpart species and decided to make friends with this little boy.

It didn't matter anymore that he was a ghoul. It was simply a symbiotic relationship. One that wasn't meant to be in the first place.

"I've decided." Light said with a certain ring of finality to his words.

"Wha?" Ayato mumbled, clearly confused as to where his companion's words came from.

"If my life were in your hands, I would trust you without hesitation," Light proclaimed, "Ayato, if your life were in my hands, would you trust me?"

This was the question that would start or end their friendship. A question that would cut the strings that held their fragile relationship together or strengthen those bonds.

It all depended on Ayato's answer.

"Uhhhh..." Ayato was clearly stumped here, "Well..."

He cried out in frustration, his brain fried from having to make such an important choice.

"IT'S SUCH A DIFFICULT DECISION!" Ayato cried out, hair raising and tears starting to stream down his face. Light swore that if Ayato had his hands unbound, he would be ruffling his hair intensely.

As Ayato started ranting as to how each choice held its own importance, Light started speculating as to why he made this decision.

 **'Why.. do I even bother?'**

Ayato was obviously too young to make an actual decision for himself, which made him more trustworthy than Light could think possible. He was probably still dependent on his parents before he ended up here. It only made sense for Ayato's answer to be yes.

If Ayato put his life in Light's hands, he would be his guardian in this situation, and Ayato would depend on him relentlessly.

Light was okay with that. He wasn't any better than Ayato was, and he realized that. It wasn't hard to see the similarities when you've already committed a great sin.

Light's sin was murder. It may have been one person, a criminal at that, but the consequences on his sanity were enough to open his eyes. He couldn't be any more different from a child that kills to survive. Not by a long shot. It was his decision to kill and he regretted it.

All he could do was atone for his sins and look upon ghouls as equals.

After all, he was no better than a murderer. One that killed for no particular reason except to satiate their own twisted boredom.

He was _less_ than human now. He accepted that.

Rather than gloom about his decrease in status, he decided to get closer to Ayato. God knows how long they'll be stuck together. That and the fact that he owed it to him.

What a fool he was for thinking low of him in the first place.

He started off with an easy question, a question that would open the gateway to a much darker past than he first expected.

"What's your family like, Ayato?" Light questioned softly, fully aware that this question could trigger Ayato's defensive side.

This question stopped Ayato's ongoing rant.

Everything in the room paused. There wasn't one bit of movement. Ayato remained staring at the wall, most likely debating whether or not to hide his past with his newfound friend. Finally after what seemed like a decade in waiting, Ayato chose to respond to his fellow prisoner.

"I had a mom and dad, a big sister too..." Ayato whispered gently, slightly wary of the conversation's topic.

 _Had_. That was the word that changed the meaning of the whole sentence. It could mean all kinds of horrible, _dreadful_ things.

Light solemnly nodded, fully aware of the dark path he was embarking upon. What an emotional rollercoaster it would be.

"But Mom died a few years ago..." Ayato went along slowly with his words, each syllable painstakingly pronounced.

As he started sinking deeper and deeper into Ayato's past, Light wondered something. Something quite obvious that Kanou neglected to tell him.

Can ghouls _die_?

Apparently, the answer was yes, according to Ayato. There was another question that promptly followed. Something that was quite logical in nature.

How can ghouls die?

According to Kanou's depiction of ghouls, they appeared to be strong, especially when it came to physical strength. Light didn't think it possible for a ghoul to die of disease nor sickness. Their bodies seemed too durable for that.

The only explanation he could muster up was death by old age, but even that didn't make sense in Ayato's situation. His mother could have been no older than 40 before dying, still young enough to live by any means possible.

 **'Is it possible that there's another dimension to this that I'm not looking at?'**

Light skimmed his memories of what Kanou said about ghouls. Finally, he realized the answer.

Humans.

Ghouls could die of old age or by the hand of humans.

The prospect of having a quinque made sense now. Self defense really meant killing ghouls, even if they begged for mercy during their last moments.

The whole human race was naive towards this fact. They were in the middle of an immense war, and nobody realized it. Only those who knew about these creatures were willing to fight them off, hiding off every bit of evidence that could lead ignorant citizens to the truth.

This could possibly be the biggest cover-up in the history of mankind, and Light just discovered it over the span of two days.

Humans weren't the only ones being hunted. This was a two-way war, and the humans seemed to be winning it. With this prospect in mind, another thought surfaced through Light's enlightened mind.

 **'Would they hunt down innocent ghouls like Ayato?'**

The reality Light lived in now disgusted him. He couldn't believe the insanity that was his own species. The morality of mankind...

Was only directed to other people. It wasn't directed towards anything else. No, _anybody_ else.

It didn't matter that Ayato never killed anyone, they didn't see it that way. He was just another predator starting to grow up. To think Light was just the same a few hours ago...

It repulsed him to no end.

Criminals weren't the only evil in this world anymore. Every human seemed to match that potential of apathy. Not caring whether or not another soul perished from this world.

Truly, everyone was self-centered and uncaring, only glancing at others if their monotonous life was disturbed in some way. Light was unknowingly one of those many, until now.

He was vying for change, and nothing would stop him from doing so. He wanted to be different from the other indifferent creatures of his species. He wanted to become a completely different person by the time he came out of this. He decided that it would be his form of retribution.

 _If_ he came out of this alive.

It was kind of funny. In order to realize what a monster he was before, he had to become a murderer. A different kind of monster. Huh.

His mind finally returning to reality, he realized that only 20 seconds had gone by. Damn, was he a fast thinker.

Giving a quick glance at Ayato, he saw the dead, glazed look in the child's eyes. This conversation may have been a bad decision, but it was going to happen at some point.

No matter how hard Ayato tried to push it off.

Light decided to push the discussion along, slowly edging another question on as to not disturb Ayato's state of mind.

"Would you mind telling me how she died?" Light asked in a tone that could be classified as you're-going-to-get-a-cavity sweet.

"I didn't really know her that well," Ayato said blankly, "She died when I was only a year old..."

Whatever emotions Light had been tucking away in his pockets were starting to come out and rear their ugly faces. Goddamn emotions.

Still, there were some emotions that hadn't come yet. Some he hadn't experienced since his birth.

Before Ayato could continue his story, he realized something that was essential to understanding his past traumas.

"Light," this was the first time Ayato had addressed Light by his name, "Do you know what the CCG is?"

Light shook his head, indicating a very blatant 'no'.

"It stands for 'Commission of Counter Ghoul'," Ayato said frankly, "They're a part of the government that hunts down ghouls."

A part of the government? Light expected no less. If anyone could hide the existence of a species, it would be a government.

Too much power for their own good.

"You already know about quinques, so there's no need to explain that," Ayato added, "The CCG uses quinques to kill ghouls. That's their job. Sometimes they might capture ghouls, but only if they know 'things'. If you don't know anything, you're as good as dead."

Ayato sealed his last sentence by sliding his finger across his neck, a simple sign of death.

"There's one person in the CCG that almost every ghoul fears," Ayato said solemnly, "He's known as the CCG's Grim Reaper, Kishou Arima."

Another long pause separated Ayato's painfully clear words.

"He's the man that slaughtered my mother."

At that particular moment, Light's breathing ceased.

First came recognition.

Then pain.

Then hate. Seething, burning _hatred_.

Light's prediction was correct. How he hoped that he was wrong.

He couldn't find anymore solace in his own species. Not after the crimes his kin had committed.

For the first time in his life, Light felt sympathy. The alien emotion creeped its way into his usually apathetic thoughts.

To think he had pity for something that wasn't even of his own kind.

He looked at Ayato with soft, meaningful eyes. He didn't want Ayato to push himself to talk about this, it wasn't healthy to talk about things you've already grieved over.

"If it bothers you, you don't have to talk about it," Light said kindly, refusing to push this painful discussion any farther than it has already gotten.

"M'kay," Ayato murmured through flowing tears. He leaned his head against Light's shoulder, accepting the concept of being quiet for a while.

Light didn't mind. He let him be for ten minutes or so before deciding to speak up.

He was about to open his mouth, but then realized that there was a soft snoring sound originating from his own left shoulder.

Light let himself smile at that.

He may have just made his first friend too.

* * *

 **DAY 4 - Ayato-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

Ayato's internal clock was screaming at him to get up.

Instead, he tried to move into a more comfortable position on the soft pillow he was situated on. Then he realized, it wasn't a pillow he was sleeping on.

It was a _person_.

He immediately panicked and scrambled away from the human being stationed right next to him.

Only seconds after doing so did he recognize the person. His friend.

Light was letting out a soft snore, something that wasn't very common among most people.

Most people snored like pigs. Like Touka.

Ayato let out a small chuckle at his thought.

He missed his sister.

She was one of the two people in his family that didn't leave. On purpose or by unfortunate circumstance.

His father made him promise to protect his sister. Touka vice-versa.

Yet, he managed to break both of their promises by making a stupid move. The one that made him end up here.

He just had to become stronger, for him and his broken family. He thought it would be worth it by the end.

What was he thinking?

Most ghouls that fought back against the CCG only made more trouble. He was safer being at Anteiku with Uncle Renji and Touka.

If only he had decided to settle down and stay home. He wouldn't be here.

Light probably wouldn't be here either.

Somehow he had managed to hurt everyone around him, even a stranger he didn't know before a few days ago.

He _was_ hot-headed. Just like Touka said.

He remembered what happened the day he left. The day he decided to join Aogiri. The day he ended up becoming an experiment.

 **oO**Oo**

 _Arguments. Quarrels. Fights._

 _So many words that mean the same exact thing._

 _Ayato couldn't help but be pissed off by the world's monotonous movement, the repeating schedules that his family followed._

 _It sickened him._

 _The fact that others of his kind drop like flies while those at Anteiku just accepted that fact and continued working._

 _He was different. He wanted to fight. He wanted to end their persecution. Their **genocide**._

 _The problem was that the rest of his family didn't._

 _He was the only one with a real fighting spirit, Touka coming at a close second, but even Touka wasn't willing to fight like he was._

 _No matter how much his family tried to convince him that fighting only made the situation worse, he continued to defy and argue._

 _This strain continued to the point where he could no longer stand sitting and watching._

 _So he ran away._

 _The night before he left, he argued extensively. He reached his boiling point. The point of no return to be more precise._

 _There were points along his journey when he considered returning, but thought against it. He wanted to prove them wrong._

 _Every last one of them would be wrong._

 _He had been following a ghoul. Not any ghoul however, an executive of Aogiri._

 _It took Ayato a while to find someone with any connections to the secretive organization. Most people who knew about its specific details were a part of it._

 _Finally, he stumbled upon one of the most feared members of Aogiri._

 _He was now following him._

 _The blonde-haired man in front of him, bearing a mask similar to that of a hockey mask, was an S-rated ghoul._

 _Yakumo Oomori. **Jason**._

 _Ayato couldn't see the expression on the man's face, but he had an eerie feeling about this encounter._

 _It didn't seem right._

 _Although every instinct in his body was screaming for him to run away, he continued following the quiet man._

 _He was praying that by the end of this meeting, he wouldn't end up face-first in a ditch. By God, he hoped he wouldn't._

 _Finally, after what seemed like ages, the blonde man stopped in front of a secluded, dilapidated warehouse._

 _'This wasn't right'_

 _"It this Aogiri's base?" Ayato asked, hopeful that he wouldn't die right where he stood._

 _The man gave a nod. Although, it seemed like he was smiling for half a second._

 _Jason shoved Ayato through a broken window that was located behind a stack of boxes along the exterior of the destroyed building._

 _"Akihiro, I have what you asked for," Jason chirped happily._

 _It was a trap._

 _Damn, his instincts were on point this time._

 _Before Ayato knew it, he was locked into a chokehold by the person that led him to the secluded location._

 _A man wearing a plain white mask entered the room._

 _"Ah, perfect!" the masked man, supposedly called 'Akihiro', clapped, "You never fail to deliver, Yakumo."_

 _"I know, I'm amazing," Jason gloated, "But you know the routine."_

 _"Payment?" Akihiro asked, "Only after you get another one like this."  
_

 _"Another ghoul? That'll be–"_

 _"Human," Akihiro corrected, "I need a human adolescent."_

 _"Why human?" Jason questioned, quite intrigued by his friend's intentions._

 _"Not yet, Yakumo. You'll find out soon enough."  
_

 _"You know, that's too bad," Jason pouted, "That's the same answer you give me every time."_

 _"Just get to tying the subject," Akihiro ordered as he tossed the blonde man a wheel of rope.  
_

 _'Subject?'_

 _"You heard him, kid," Jason began tying knots around Ayato's bare hands with rope, "Don't give me a hard time now."_

 _"But you said–"_

 _"Yeah, I lied," Jason smiled, "Isn't that a shame? You should see the look on your face! You look so devastated! IT'S ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL!"_

 _Jason was cackling as he tied the final knot in Ayato's makeshift handcuffs, Ayato struggling against the man's deathly grip._

 _"So, for the next kid, got any preferences?" Jason asked Akihiro.  
_

 _"Not any specifics," Akihiro said, "Just try to find someone within ten years of this one's age. I can figure it out from there."_

 _Jason stroked his chin in delight. Ayato looked at the slightly insane man, afraid for the next person to fall victim to his facade._

 _"This'll be fun," Jason whispered delightedly._

 _"Alright," Akihiro said abruptly, "Now that you're done with tying **it** up, put it in the 'special room'."_

 _"Aye aye, Doctor!" Jason jeered loudly._

 _The Doctor visibly cringed at his employee's antics._

 _"Just go."_

 _"Alright, alright," Jason whispered the last part, "You sad-sack."_

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"Don't worry about it."_

 _Jason grabbed his hostage by the head and dragged him to the room deemed the 'special room'._

 _The last thing Ayato saw were the two beady eyes of the executive._

 _"Have fun with Doctor Kanou, little ghoul," Jason snickered._

 **oO**Oo**

How much could one person regret something?

That was the main question on Ayato's mind. To him, regret was an infinite feeling.

He couldn't regret enough.

Before he could submerge himself in his own regret, the door to his and Light's secluded room was open.

A hand jutted in slowly, placing an unscrewed water bottle on the ground.

Before Ayato could register what was happening, he was rushing towards the cracked open door at the speed of sound.

Immediately, the hand darted back and the door slammed shut. Instead of sliding through the door crack like Ayato anticipated, his whole body crashed into the cold, metal door.

Painfully.

In fact, the impact was so loud that it woke Light up.

Quickly, Ayato checked to see that the water bottle that had been placed on the ground was not overturned. Luckily, it remained upright and unspilt.

He sighed in relief. The last thing they needed was to lose their only source of hydration. Who knows how long they would go without another bottle.

"Hmmm?" Light hummed inquisitively peering at Ayato with the one eye he was keeping open.

"Don't worry! Nothing happened!" Ayato exclaimed, trying to shrug off the embarrassing escapade a few minutes earlier.

For the first time, Ayato saw Light smirk.

"Yeah right," Light said playfully.

Ayato felt the hot-heated side of himself take over.

"W-WHAT?! NO! I'M SERIOUS! N-NOTHING HAPPENED!" Ayato was trying desperately to save face, tick marks appearing at the corner of his forehead.

"I saw the whole thing," Light sneered, having seen the Ayato's failure of an escape.

"I give up," Ayato grumbled, sticking his hands up in submission. He was _extremely_ humiliated.

Light was probably enjoying this. Jerk.

He was definitely going to introduce Light to Touka. They would probably get along.

That, and it would be fun to see his sister get humiliated. _Very_ fun.

Well...

That was _if_ they both came out of this alive. Ayato decided to address this thought.

"Hey Light?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we're going to get out of here?"

Light's eyes darkened. Ayato understood. It may have been too early to make conclusions, especially ones that concerned both of their lives.

"I don't know, Ayato," Light stared up at the ceiling, "I hope we do."

Ayato stayed quiet. It was a depressing topic anyways.

"If only you make it out alive..." Ayato started.

Light gave him a strange look.

"Could you find my family? Would you tell them what happened to me?"

* * *

 **DAY 4 - Light-Centric (3rd Person POV)**

"If only you make it out alive..."

Light stared at him incredulously. Was he actually asking him this right now?

"Could you find my family? Would you tell them what happened to me?"

"Of course," Light said without hesitation. They were in this together. He was sure that Ayato would do the same for him.

"Then I should probably tell you my full name then," Ayato realized, "It's Kirishima. Ayato Kirishima."

"Don't make those assumptions, Ayato," Light warned, "We can't just assume that only one of us will make it out alive."

Light was lying. Oh, was he lying.

He'd figured out what Kanou was going to do.

He just didn't have the heart to tell Ayato.

Damn emotions.

"You know as well as I do that our lives are at stake here," Ayato said, "There's no telling what could happen, Light."

As wrong as Light wanted Ayato to be, he knew that the child was right. This was an unpredictable situation. Even though Light had figured out what Kanou wanted, it would still be _very_ unpredictable.

"I've told you my death wish," Light flinched at Ayato's phrasing, "What's yours?"

That got Light. He _didn't_ have one.

What could he say?

It wasn't like he had any wishes. Hell, he wasn't even close to his own family.

With each step deeper and deeper into this hell, Light realized more and more that he wasn't even a real person before this.

He was just an empty husk. Emotionless and impassive.

As a stride forward, Light decided what Ayato would do if he were to die.

"If you get out of this alone..." Light paused.

He knew that the chances were low that either one of them would get out of this alive. He continued anyways.

"Tell my family I love them. Can you handle that?"

Ayato nodded fiercely. Light smiled.

"Good."

Even though Light was smiling on the outside, on the inside he was worried.

He knew what was going to happen to them.

He knew that only one of them would walk out of this alive.

He knew he was going to be the one that did.

* * *

 **CAMB: My god, these just get longer and longer. I can't help myself.**

 **Light: Am I really that emotionless to you?**

 **CAMB: ...**

 **You murdered thousands of people.**

 **Light: So?**

 **CAMB: ... never mind.**

 **Do you know what time it is?  
**

 **EXPLANATION TIME!**

 **1\. So yeah, I can't split this 'arc' into two chappies so I'm doing three. Nothing I can do about that. The length of the chapters would bother me way too much.**

 **2\. Ayato spoilers are REAL. I literally stole his backstory from the manga, so I'm going canon with this. The only thing that's technically not canon is the way he ended up in Kanou's lab.**

 **3\. Welp, Soichiro's got a heart. I like the beginning to this chapter.**

 **4\. Yakumo = Jason. I hope it wasn't too obvious. Kudos to those who guessed correctly!**

 **5\. Light's changing, he's not gonna be the narcissistic jerk that Death Note portrays him as throughout the story. Nope.**

 **Light: Stop bashing my personality. I'm a perfect person.**

 **L: I see what you mean by 'narcissistic' now.**

 **Light: *Punches L***

 **L: *Sidekicks Light***

 **CAMB: Erm, anyways...**

 **Thanks for the support on this story! Please favorite and follow for the update of content and to support the story. Most importantly, review!**

 **I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING! I need the input from you guys!**

 **Again, thanks for the amazing support. Next chapter should be up in a few weeks.**

 **BYE!**

* * *

 **Wow. So you really read this whole thing? Like srsly... wow.**

 **Well, don't have any hope in this styling of the story for it is long gone.**

 **This is the only major update I'll have this month along with the re-write of the prologue.**

 **Stay patient, my dear readers. Peace.**


	2. Prologue: Ennui

**I'm NOT DEAD!**

 **Well... not yet at least.**

 **Sorry for not updating this in March like I promised. I didn't have much inspiration to write then and my schoolwork was starting to consume my time. These next few months will be ridiculously work-ridden because of SATs and finals coming up and I just won't have the time to update my stories as much. The month of April will likely be my most productive until after my high school goes out for Summer break.**

 **I'll try my best to get the next few rewrites done quickly so I cannot do the stuff I'd already written.**

 **Without further ado, let the prologue begin!**

 _・・・・_

 _Words_ = Normal dialogue or narration with emphasis

 _・・・・_

 ** _When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting._**

 ** _~Jon Kabat-Zinn_**

 _・・・・_

The barren landscape of the shinigami realm was rather unpleasing to the average person's eye. It was even more unpleasant to the shinigami who have inhabited it for over ten-thousand years. The ashy gray sand that spanned across the lands was coarse and dry, adding another dimension of dullness to the already repulsive scenery.

The Shinigami King had seen it all, stories that repeated all too often for the immortal being. He'd had his share of interesting humans to watch, all of which met the same dark fate as their predecessors. At this point, these humans should have seemed unimportant to him; too repetitive and uninteresting to watch for any longer. Yet, he'd found some solace in watching their perpetual fall from grace, enjoying every second as they dug their metaphorical graves deeper and deeper.

He was particularly drawn in by the personalities of each human.

He'd seen evil-doers, martyrs, religious figures, and even regular, normal people get driven mad with power by the shinigami's primary tool. It was rather unimpressive how easily the human psyche could be influenced by a simple black notebook. The ability to kill was nothing special, every human had the potential to kill. Even without a shinigami's notebook, life could be taken away with the use of one's own two hands.

It wasn't difficult to kill. This was obvious to the King, but humans truly believed there was something more to it. Something other than just stabbing another being until their life abruptly ended.

Something other than just grabbing one's throat and holding it firmly until their heart stopped pumping.

Something other than just pulling a trigger and waiting for the target's blood to stop pooling out of their warm bodies.

There was nothing truly special about killing. It was just accelerating the process of living, to the point where it ended almost way too fast.

Humans who stumbled upon Death Notes seemed to understand this feeling of murderous joy. They'd killed to the point where they numbed themselves from human emotion, slowly poisoning the people that surrounded them. They had slowly corrupted themselves over their killing spree, losing sight of their goals in life and replacing them with values most humans would deem cruel and unusual.

The King's favorite human of the many hundreds cursed with the shinigami's killing weapon was Light Yagami.

The young man was the most recognizable face to all shinigami of the King's realm, his popularity among them kindled by Ryuk's unintentional pick of a madman. He was insane but likable. Most importantly, he was entertaining. He had the longest run among all humans with a Death Note by far.

The best thing about the man with a god-complex was his radical ideology. Yagami truly believed himself to be a god among men, purifying the world by ridding it of criminals of all kinds. He could simply be described as an egotistical bastard that thought himself the king of the Earth itself. That was probably why he was so amusing to watch in the first place.

The King prided himself on a personal vision orb, a device that could display the ongoings of the human world and its neighbors. There were many of these magical devices scattered throughout the shinigami realm, but the King's trumped them in importance. It was like having his own personal television in which he could watch human suffering commence.

It was this orb he used to watch Light Yagami and other vile humans.

Oddly enough, the King grew attached to Yagami as he continued to spectate. He'd started to laugh when Light's utter derangement kicked in, basking himself in the absolute pleasure that he received from watching something so positively humorous and amusing. The King even began to support the young man's cause, squirming in delight whenever another triumph was made. This is by far what made this specific human so entertaining.

But, as every law of nature dictates, good things do not last.

Yagami passed after a few years, pathetically shot to the brink of howling madly and then given release from his bloody suffering by Ryuk. As tradition with every shinigami that drops a notebook, whether by accident or on purpose, the King banished Ryuk to the edges of the shinigami realm, leaving him to suffer and wait on that lonesome mountain of his. The King of Death actually wanted to keep Ryuk as a small pet, a clown for his own personal entertainment. That would have also sufficed as a decent punishment, embarrassing the tired shinigami one clumsy joke after another.

Most importantly, the Shinigami King wanted his favorite form of entertainment to bring back laughter and to return enjoyment to his soul. After all, it was rather uninteresting just 'hanging' around on his throne. It's only been a year and he was already itching for some excitement.

How he wished another shinigami would drop their notebook into the human world.

Alas, everyone was too shaken by the previous events. Not only that, but Ryuk's punishment served as the last straw for many of the daredevil death gods. Nobody was willing to experiment with the human world for a long time to come, so all the freakish deities just sat around and gambled with one another.

He wanted to watch his favorite show again, he wanted to be delighted by his favorite human again. He wanted to peel off this layer of boredom clouding his thoughts.

A freakish smile crossed the King's amorphous face. His shackles that bound him to the ceiling were shaking with vigor, his shapeless body fighting against the pull of his chains. The Shinigami King was featureless, bodiless and yet, he remained conscious of the world around him.

 _It was time to change things._

As the king of the death gods, the Shinigami King held an authoritative position over the functions of the universe.

He was the one true god of this world, and he was going to use that position to get what he wanted. So it began.

Tremors shook the world of the shinigami, the gods of death panicking over the sudden quakes that disheveled the dunes of gray sand. Some were buried underneath the colorless particles while others barely escaped entombment with the use of their hideous wings.

On the edge of his mountainous cavern, Ryuk took notice of these intense shudders that knocked over nearby pebbles and caused some stalagmites to drop.

"Hyuk," he chuckled quietly, talking to nobody in particular, "It seems like you were bored too."

He stood up and stretched his gruesomely hunched back, walking over to the outcrop of rock that jutted out of the mountain's cave.

"I suppose I'm in for a ride," Ryuk commented, "Hopefully it'll be more interesting than last time."

The shinigami continued to watch the chaos occurring underneath him, sand collapsing continuously and shinigami shrieking their heads off about their fallen comrades as well as their own threatened well-being.

Crackling thunder began to permeate the sky, drowning out all the darkness that previously inhabited the dull atmosphere. Hues of blue and red consumed the sky as the severe lightning continued to strike in the atmosphere. The quakes only intensified as time inched forward, slowly causing more and more debris to break and fall over.

It was as if the world was ending. And just like that...

Everything faded to black.

 _・・・・_

The King of Death was the first to wake from this dimensional-shift.

Air seethed through his permanently gritted teeth, hissing a sound that remotely resembled laughter. His wishes had come true, the universe had bent to his will.

It was the year 2006, and everything had gone according to his makeshift plan. Now, what to do...

Frankly, the King hadn't thought that far ahead. He was simply pressing rewind on the proverbial remote control. Of course, it wouldn't be particularly interesting to just sit and watch the same show all over again. No, he needed to make it a little more interesting. He needed to change something.

He began to deeply ponder his choices when he was suddenly interrupted by the gold-clad Armonia Justin Beyondormason, his right-hand shinigami.

"Sire?" Justin questioned coldly, not seeming all that concerned, "Is everything alright?"

The Shinigami King merely stared in Armonia Justin's direction and that sent the signal.

 _Stop bothering me. Now._

Beyondormason rushed out of the room, dropping a few precious gems from his body on his way out. The gems were a certain familiar shade of yellow...

The King chuckled at subordinate's uneasiness in his presence. It was rather fulfilling to scare them shitless and watch them run around like headless chickens in the aftermath of his appearance.

It was back to pondering. The King did not know nor care how long he sat on his throne, thinking about how to play with his toys in a different manner.

Finally, a devious smile crossed the King of Death's face.

It was too easy. Almost _boringly_ easy. Yet...

The chaos would begin that very tumultuous day.

 _・・・・_

 **You know, I probably re-wrote this opening about 5 times and I'm still not very happy with it. Eh, it's still better than the "Fate" one. I rather not insert a random OC for this.**

 **I actually really need some feedback because I'm still utterly clueless about this story.**


	3. Chapter 1: His Nature

**Oh boy, I've been** _ ***sarcasm* very**_ **consistent with writing this story. Erm yeah, I'm sorry for keeping everyone who is following this story from reading another chapter.**

 **So yeah, I'm pretty restricted in how much I can actually write outside of my house. Anyway, I'll try to be more consistent with this story, but I won't and will never have an update schedule. I run on the idea that I should only write when I feel the inspiration to. it usually allows me to write a quality chapter.**

 **Anyways, time for obligatory warnings and disclaimers!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. You hear me!? NOTHIN!**

 **Warnings: I-hope-he's-in-character Light, angst, and some non-descriptive death.**

 _・・・・_

 ** _Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not 'yours,' not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you._**

 ** _~Eckhart Tolle_**

 _・・・・_

A stale, droning voice filled the room, pointless words echoing throughout the diminutive classroom.

Teacher spoke, yet he did not listen. There was no need to pay heed, to waste his precious time to hear the babbling fool.

He knew it all. Every single word that was spoken by the teacher.

It was because he'd read the textbooks more than once, he'd researched more than once, he'd _heard_ this more than once.

With every second, he'd felt as if he were sinking deeper and deeper into his own little world, reality slowly becoming numb to his acute senses.

It was only a small black speck in the corner of his vision that brought him back to reality.

Light Yagami blinked a few times, just to let the real world set in. He turned his head to the side, looking for the tiny object that had pulled him out of his weary trance.

Mere milliseconds of searching and he finally found the item-of-desire. It looked like a book. A plain black book that was falling from the sky.

How peculiar.

He leaned over a bit to see the dark book that had abruptly fallen, not caring about the odd stares that came his way. Public opinion? He could care less, it wasn't like their beliefs about him mattered. In fact, it was probably for the best if he stayed unknown by others.

There would be fewer _annoyances_ to deal with.

"Yagami," a voice called. He ignored it, instead trying to get a better view of the book.

The book landed in the courtyard of his school, going completely unnoticed by the other inhabitants of the room. His staring continued.

"Yagami," the voice commanded, even sterner than before.

He reluctantly pried his eyes away from the interesting item and made eye contact with the teacher. The source of the voice.

"Please read this section of the textbook that I've written on the board," the teacher said inattentively, not caring much that Light wasn't even paying attention to his lecture beforehand. Even the professor of the foreign language class was uninterested in the topic at hand.

"Yes, sir."

Light stood up and began reciting the English scripture from the textbook with flawless accuracy. Even though he was focused on reading, he couldn't help but think of the odd phenomenon that had occurred only minutes before. It stuck in the back of his mind like glue.

Maybe after class. The thought lingered for the remainder of the lesson.

 _・・・・_

It didn't take long for the bell to ring, thus dismissing Light from his classes for the day.

Although he seemed like an intelligent person, Light was actually _glad_ that he was on his way home. Even though he was renowned for having perfect scores and being a model student, the point of school was lost on him. The fact that he could learn everything he needed to from textbooks alone lead him to believe that the institution itself was unnecessary. A waste of time if anything.

An internal feeling of longing resounded through his body. Only a few hours of cram school and he wouldn't have to sit through a teacher's lecture for the rest of the weekend.

He made a beeline straight towards the courtyard, making sure to not bump into the rambunctious teenagers that he hated to call his peers. Finally, out of the stuffy building, his eyes zeroed in on the book from earlier.

Light walked towards the black book, ignoring the giggling teenage girls that were gawking at him. Once he was towering over the odd notebook, he bent over and picked it up, overlooking the fact that the previous girls were still staring at him intently.

He took a quick glance around and then focused his attention on the black hard-cover notebook. He quickly brushed off some dirt and grass that had managed to cling to the leather cover, despite the jejune texture of the book.

The title read "Death Note" in silver lettering that greatly contrasted the ebony black cover.

He looked up from the notebook and gave another look-around, making sure that nobody was suspicious of his peculiar actions. Quickly opening it, he was met with the inner cover, which was titled "Death Note: How To Use It" in the same odd font as earlier, and pages upon pages of blank lined paper.

His attention drifting back to the cover, he read the very first bullet on the leather-bound page. The further he read into the page, the more skeptical he became of the legitimacy of the book itself.

After reading through the instructions, he decided to place the book back down on the ground. It was a prank, he was sure of it.

Yet, he was oddly tempted to bring the object with him.

There was a chance, a small chance, that this was real.

And he wasn't ready to let one of his irresponsible peers have it.

Light subtly slid the book into his messenger bag, making sure to shut the latch on top after. Whatever this was, whether it was a harmless joke or the tool that would end the world, he had to investigate. It wasn't a choice.

It was simply his nature.

 _・・・・_

The door to the Yagami household closed quietly, accompanied by hurried footsteps up the stairs and to the second floor.

Light wasn't willing to make small talk with his mother, even if it was _necessary_ for keeping a normal house life. He had one, and only one, priority: to figure out whether or not this book was actually what it claimed to be.

Once he met with his bedroom door, he took out the long stick of pencil lead that was between the door and the doorframe, lying snugly on the hinge of the door, and hastily entered the room. He immediately fished through his bag and pulled out the dark notebook, clutching it tightly as if it were about to float away.

He then threw his messenger bag onto his bed and moved towards the desk in the corner of his bland, greyish room. He sat down with vigor and set the notebook on the desk, directly facing him. For a while, he just stared at the object. Waiting as if it would suddenly do something unexpected.

Nothing happened.

Impatience mustering up inside him, Light carefully prodded the notebook with his index finger, expecting the item to perhaps make a sound or pop out confetti.

Anything to make it _seem_ like a harmless prank.

Yet, nothing happened.

He exhaled deeply and finally gave up on trying to get a response from the supposed "Death Note". Instead, he yanked open the drawer built into his desk and stuffed the black book into it.

Trying to keep his mind off of the discarded book, Light flicked the ON button for his television and was immediately greeted with an anxious and frightened voice.

He turned up the volume.

A harried reporter screamed into the microphone, "The same assailant who attacked six people at a busy shopping district in Shinjuku yesterday has struck again, taking eight people hostage at this daycare center! His captives include both... children and teachers. The police have now identified the suspect as forty-two-year-old Kurou Otoharada. We expect negotiations to begin immediately for the eight hostages!"

It was a pity. A frown adorned Light's normally neutral expression. His eyes met with those of the criminal being shown on screen and down to the drawer in which he had shut the odd book. He simply stared at the handle of the drawer, his inner conscious clashing between the choice of opening it or not.

He suddenly opened the drawers, seized the notebook, slapped it onto the desk, and grabbed a pen from the pencil holder on the desk. He quickly flipped open the cover and put the tip of the pen on the paper.

If the notebook was actually candid with its nature, then the criminal would die within 40 seconds of him writing the name down. If the man dies, the hostages inside the building _will_ be safe. If the notebook isn't real, then nothing will happen and Light would be absolutely _sure_ that he could dispose of it without worrying about who may find it.

Either way, someone would benefit from the end product of this experiment.

Light wrote the man's name, being absolutely sure to stare at the man's face between each stroke of kanji. After embellishing the last stroke, he placed the pen back on the desk and sat back in his chair, watching the screen with intent.

Only 40 seconds until something would happen, or not.

Light was certain that nothing would happen. He continued to watch with a smirk on his face.

The seconds ticked by, each one seeming longer and longer as the moment of truth marched closer. After 40 seconds passed, the reporter continued to keep the audience updated about the situation at hand, mostly rehashing the information he had given earlier in different ways. Light's smirk grew only larger.

He had _known_ that it wouldn't work. After all, he had _never_ been wrong before.

Why would he be now?

Suddenly the man on the screen stopped speaking, his hand placed securely behind his ear. He spoke only a few works while a small crowd of people suddenly started to bustle out of the daycare center's front doors.

Light's smirk faded, instead replaced by a horrified expression and an equally terrified gleam in his eyes.

Kurou Otoharada, an assaulter and homicidal maniac, perished from a heart attack, only 40 seconds after his name was written in the black notebook.

 _・・・・_

 **I've resolved that I will answer all reviews for this story every time I submit a new chapter. That means that you should be expecting a PM if you've reviewed using an account. I'm sorry for those who use guest accounts :(**

 **Anyways, ask away if you have any questions! If they're integral to understanding the story, then I'll probably put the answer in this part of the a/n.**

 **Thanks for being patient my dear readers, and have a nice day. :D**


	4. Chapter 2: The Greatest Folly

**Right-y-o, I spent this morning writing this chapter. I just had to get some of my negative vibes out from school, so here it goes. Sorry if my writing is slightly darker or out of normal for this chapter. School has just gotten so intense within the first week and it's been giving me more stress than usual.**

 **Disclaimer: Potatoes can't own manga, silly. They can write stories tho.**

 **Warnings: Psychotic (mostly stupid) Light, angst, and some battery.**

 _・・・・_

 _Words_ = Normal dialogue or narration with emphasis

 _・・・・_

 _ **Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.**_

 _ **~Chris Lowe**_

 _・・・・_

The seconds ticked by as Light slowly backed away from the small television, staring at the Death Note in absolute mortification.

He slowly approached the desk with caution and with a shaky hand, he turned off the still blaring TV. In a psychedelic trance, Light gingerly picked up the notebook and approached his bed, taking a seat on the cushiony apparatus. He could only stare at the name he had written in the book, the only semblance of writing inside the entire book.

He had just killed a man, out of simple human curiosity.

In a way, it disgusted him to his core. To do something so petty; it was unthinkable in his eyes. But, in another way, he had also been correct for doing what he did. Under Utilitarian terms, he was a hero, he had saved the hostages lives by having to kill _only one_ person. However, under Deontologist terms, he was a monster, taking a life was an unacceptable way to solve the problem. He was utterly conflicted, unsure what to think of the events that had passed in the last ten minutes.

He wanted to believe that he was right, to _know_ that he was right. The evidence was on the screen! He had saved lives, dozens and dozens of lives in exchange for the existence of one sleazy, greedy criminal. How wrong could it be to take someone like _that_ off the face of the Earth? Especially since it allowed many others to continue to be honest, hardworking people.

Wait... what if it wasn't even _his_ doing in the first place? It could have been an _extremely odd coincidence._ The man might have had an already deteriorating health and it could have been the tension of the situation that finally set him over the edge. It would make a lot more sense that _this_ situation happened instead of him using a magical death notebook to kill someone.

The latter seemed _highly_ unlikely compared to the normal explanation.

Regardless, he felt the need to test the item again, to make _sure_ that it wouldn't cause any harm. He couldn't kill someone innocent, that's for sure. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself for killing those who've done nothing.

Suddenly, he was jolted with a sudden noise from downstairs:

"Light, it's six-thirty and you have cram school tonight!" his mother screamed, making her presence known for the first time since he arrived home.

He blinked owlishly and looked at the analog clock on his bedside table. True to his mother's word, the clock read six-thirty. He hadn't realized that he was in his room for so long. He got up from the comfy bed and stuck his head outside of his room:

"I'll be down in a minute," he yelled down the stairs, quickly going back into his room to gather his supplies. Packing various books and sheets of paper into his messenger back, he finally finishes after a few short minutes. He hastily moves towards the door to exit. As his hand hovers above the doorknob, he looks back at the demonic notebook on his bead.

A thought arises.

This was his chance to find a situation to really 'test' the notebook out, to make sure that it wasn't just coincidence. Or maybe to make sure that it _was_ a coincidence. He wasn't quite sure which situation he wanted to be true, but he just _had_ to test it out again. Just to make sure.

He quickly marches back to the cot and swipes the black notebook from the sheets, tucking it deeply into the bottom of his messenger bag. As he leaves the house, quickly saying a curt "Goodbye" to his Mother, he keeps his hand clutched onto the ebony leather-bound book.

Depending on the result of this experiment, the book would either burn or be kept for the sake of humanity that night.

 _・・・・_

Light's fingers silently danced along the desk, he was anxiously awaiting the end of class in order to start his _experiment._

At first, he spent his time concentrating on the work assigned, doing meticulous work on each question. As usual, he finished far earlier than his peers and was left to wait for the end of the lesson. It was a long, painstaking couple of hours.

Finally, he was dismissed from the stale classroom. As he walked out, he noticed one of his classmates bullying another for money. The thought of using the notebook flashed through his mind, but he immediately denied the idea. It would be foolish to kill someone for something so little.

Not to mention that it would attract unwanted attention towards his perfect student identity.

No, he needed a target that couldn't be connected to him, one that he could just stumble upon and kill without leaving any strings attached.

He needed to go out and _look_ for criminals, regardless of how much of a bad idea that was in theory.

He passed through the front doors of the cram school after a few minutes of mindless walking. The person he saw being mugged for cash earlier was on the phone, angrily yelling at his mother. It was quite incredible how people could exchange positions on a whim. The victim becomes the aggressor, the cycle repeats.

He stood at crossways, able to go either right or left. There was an equal chance of finding a criminal in either direction, so he shrugged and started to walk to the right of the cram school, the route he usually took to get home. A few steps in and suddenly, he was struck with an odd wave of emotion.

He abruptly had a feeling that he should go left, that he _shouldn't_ walk home as he normally does. Now, of course, the first thing that came to mind was a reasonable question: why would he suddenly feel this urge? Perhaps it was because he knew the route home well and there was a good chance that he would subconsciously avoid criminals in alleyways and dark streets. Perhaps it was because he knew that he could encounter criminals in a place unknown to him.

Perhaps his sense of self-preservation was finally kicking in.

Regardless of the circumstance, he decided to trust his gut instinct. When has he _ever_ been wrong? _His_ instinct was trustworthy, dependable.

He pivoted on his right heel and began walking in the other direction, being vigilant for any crime afoot. His right hand slithered into the messenger bag, once again grasping the Death Note selfishly. He was ready to pull it out on a whim, the moment he found anything suspicious.

Now all he had to do was continue walking and wait for trouble to befall.

 _・・・・_

The streets were completely barren, devoid of any life whatsoever, Light being the only exception. He had been strolling around the city for about two hours now, his long disappearance most likely causing his mother alarm. He wasn't concerned about getting home quite yet, but he vowed that he would return to his home in an hour, regardless of whether or not he had the results he was searching for.

Light sighed in annoyance as he turned another dark street corner, no sign of crime in the dimly lit road.

The longer he spent searching for a potential-felon, the more likely he was to be the victim of that potential-crime. By now, the only people awake were either people with night-shifts, low-life drunkards, and _criminals_ , the fruit of his quest. Unfortunately, the only criminals that seemed to be lurking about were either loiterers or jay-walkers.

Not much help to his cause.

He continued down the dismal road, keeping a keen eye out for any movement in the shadows. The buzzing of the fluorescent lights was beginning to get to him.

The occasional drip of liquid from the sewers below also caused him to cringe every thirty seconds or so. He was in a sensitive state of mind, ready to snap out the deadly book at the first thing that moved in his peripheral vision.

He moved closer to the left of the sidewalk, hugging closer to the buildings and intricate alleyways in between them, occasionally stopping in his tracks to survey his surroundings. He continued this mundane process for another ten minutes until suddenly, a hand appeared in front of his face as he walked in front of an entrance of a dark, well-hidden alley.

The hand suddenly grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, pulling him closer to the hand's owner, and a strange man latched his arm around Light's neck, putting him into a chokehold. With a surprisingly strong grip, the assailant started dragging him farther and farther into the winding passage of the alleyway. He fought against the person's grip, shoving his feet into the ground while trying to gain some semblance of traction on the pavement floor. His efforts were to no avail, the man's strength was nearly _inhuman._

The movement began to slow down, the flickering of the street lights long gone, only to be replaced by the dim moonlight and the air filled with his own heavy, yet strangled, breathing and sputtering. The assailant was virtually silent, barely making any semblance of noise as the man silently progressed further into the seemingly endless hallway.

From the angle Light was being dragged at, he could make out a few details of the man's appearance, mainly the silver hair that was sticking out on the sides of the man's head and the hockey mask strapped tightly to his face. Two red orbs glared at him occasionally, glowing mysteriously in the alley's murkiness.

They continued on like this for a bit longer, seemingly an eternity for Light. The silver-haired man finally stopped in his strut and threw Light onto the ground of the alleyway, immediately putting a heavy foot on top of Light's spine to pin him down against the rough floor.

"Seems far enough from the main road," a gruff voice emerged from the mask, breaking the silence that he had created, "Nobody can hear a thing, boy. Make any trouble, and you'll be on the receiving sharp end of my favorite wrench."

The criminal got to work immediately, tentatively removing the messenger bag from Light's arms and ravaging through the container while keeping his foot firmly latched onto Light's poor back.

He was stuck, _forced_ into this predicament. He could not run away, not with this man literally keeping a foot on top of him. He grimaced as his mind filled with poisonous thoughts. It was _partly_ his fault for landing in this situation: his curiosity led him to such an unexpected downfall. In another lens, however, he was not at fault; he was only the victim of a _very_ rare incident. It was only by circumstance: he was more likely to find a burglar in the act than be dragged off into an alleyway by a deranged old man.

Still, he was _looking_ for trouble. It stunned him how he could have been _wrong,_ how his plan of finding another test subject for the Death Note could have backfired so strongly.

Suddenly his mind went blank, finally realizing his fatal error.

He had left the notebook that could _kill anyone with a name and face_ inside his bag. His face was clear as day to the masked man, and he had left his ID inside the bag with the Death Note.

He was going to _die._

He continued to lay down with bated breath, silently hoping that the masked man would overlook his Student ID and he would be spared from a heart attack. It was pointless, he knew that, but he did not want to die without a shred of his dignity left. He didn't want to accept this fate so easily.

"Huh," the masked man finally spoke after a minute of tense silence, "Now what do we have here..."

Light clenched his eyes shut, preparing for the worst. His body tensed, prepared for the pain to come. The man began pulling something out of Light's bag, the world moved slowly in those few moments.

"Interesting," the voice spoke. Light braced himself.

This was the end.

 _・・・・_

 **Cliffhanger! Lmao, now you can all flame me in peace.**

 **I've decided that for the remainder of this story, I will be switching between three main points of view: Light and L (like the normal series would usually do) as well as Ryuk since his presence will be more of an occasional check on the Kira in this story.**

 **Please do leave a review, I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and stories.**

 **Thanks, see you all in the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 3: Evolution

**Okay, my schedule is always boned and you can expect it to be like this basically all the time.**

 **Here's my gift to my readers after almost an entire YEAR of not updating this. Enjoy the long-ass chapter.**

 **If you want to know when I will update, check my Tumblr (link on my profile page)**

 **This is also cross-posted on AO3, but nowhere else.**

 **Enjoy.**

・・・・

 _Words_ = Normal dialogue or narration with emphasis

" _Words"_ = Inner Dialogue (This is exclusively for scenes that take place in the real world only, and this only applies to Light and [Character to be revealed this chapter])

・・・・

 _ **We are a party of innovation. We do not reject our traditions, but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, when change we must. We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future.**_

 _ **~Barbara Jordan**_

・・・・

A moment of silence passed, and Light braced for everything to wash over in a gruesome, bloody forty seconds.

The man flipped through the pages, pricking them against each other in a rather loud display of observation. The covers slammed shut, much to Light's surprise.

"Well," the man jeered nonchalantly, pressing his foot deeper into Light's back while eliciting a groan from the teenager. Light barely noticed the man sliding the notebook into his pocket through the tears that gathered in the corners of his eyes in response to the seething pain, "There's another toy for my collection. Never enough, you know?"

The masked stranger lifted his foot ever so slightly, almost as if he were giving Light a chance to speak. Light, out of his own judgment, remained silent; he feared what his words would stoke in the psychopath who held him hostage.

A loud crack resounded in the alleyway, and Light's back nearly snapped at the newfound force that the man was putting on his back.

The hockey-masked man twisted his grimy foot between Light's vertebrae, threatening to split him apart with the very strike, "You're a bit quiet. Too quiet for my liking."

The man kneeled down beside Light, lifting up his head so that honey brown irises met crimson red ones through the mask's round eyeholes. Even without a clear view of his face, Light just _knew_ that the man had a smirk on his face.

"Aren't you just _something_?" the masked man shook Light's head around whilst chuckling, and he eventually began to cough on his own saliva, amidst even greater laughter, in a disgusting display of insanity. Light's head was pressed against the ground as the man leaned in close, "I won't break you _yet_. No, I'll just have a snack before I leave to drop off the goods; you'll do just _fine_."

The man stood up higher, sharply craning his head whilst the moonlight made his demonic eyes gleam with anger. Something dangerous danced in those black pits that sat still behind the red cores of his eyes.

The man's hand forced Light's head to the ground, effectively slamming his brain into his skull and causing severe disorientation.

"Just think about it this way, kid," the man grunted, thrusting his hand into Light's back and piercing into his unprotected organs and rupturing his rib cage while barely avoiding his spine. Light scarcely heard the man as he felt his insides being rummaged through, and the shock of the matter left him completely unresponsive. His world began to darken as the man continued to speak casually, "You'll probably be better off after this. Hell, maybe you'll even thank me afterward. Who _wouldn't_ take the chance to become…"

Light's mind completely shut down in that second, and all of the world left his sights in a single, instantaneous moment.

・・・・

Light wondered if this was the afterlife:

A field of white roses, slowly dancing in a light wind that never seemed to cease.

A sun that gleamed in the sky, unendingly delivering its warmth to the flowers that begged for its joy.

A plethora of perfect, fluffy clouds that drifted lazily through the bluest sky.

He sat on a blindingly white bed with perfectly clean satin sheets, wearing nothing but a clean white shirt and pants that loosely blew with the wind. He had no idea of how long he had been here, and he wasn't even sure if any time had passed at all. The only things that he was sure of was that he was breathing, despite the fact that he should be dead, and that he felt a sickening pain in both his head and his gut.

The pain in his chest felt like knives stabbing into him; the pain would weave in and out, but it never faded. His head was the same story, but it was even more irritating with the pressure it put against his skull. Altogether, he felt as though he would burst at any second.

Despite this, he was determined to get up and investigate. While still sat up, Light twisted around, feeling the sharp pang of pain in his lower body, and let his legs hang over the side of the bed. He flexed them around and was quietly delighted to see them respond quite well despite the pain in his back.

Sucking in a deep breath and bracing himself for the next painful step, Light hoisted himself off of the mattress and landed on his feet. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't as bad as turning, but it was still another blow to his senses.

The pain ebbed away as he stood still, silently observing the restless flowers swaying around him. His spine stiffened as he tried to take a step, and he audibly gasped when his foot hesitantly hovered forward. When it landed, he let out a grunt and his hands darted to his back.

Without a doubt, the source of his pain was most definitely coming from his back, and scarily close to the spine. His hands smoothed his back, and he shuddered when his fingers ran over a thin line that ran across the left side of his shoulder to the middle of his spine.

He pressed in a bit, and his arm flinched forward when the pain hit him. His head throbbed as he doubled over in agony. He sat there unflinchingly for a few moments until he mustered enough gall to try to stand up again.

His knees trembled as he pushed his body off the ground with his hands, and his feet felt the slight tickle of the roses, somehow completely free of their thorns. He groaned as his back ached, but he continued to push forward despite the excruciating pain.

"Hey, just _stop_ ," a voice murmured from close by, "It's getting annoying."

Light's head whipped around out of instinct, but he immediately regretted the action when his head pounded with another pang of seething pain.

"See," the voice grumbled again, showing a youthful edge to their tone. Light glanced through clenched eyes to find a small child with unnaturally blue-purplish hair in front of him, sitting in a small patch of purple flowers that had seemingly apparated out of nowhere; the boy couldn't have been older than ten years old, but his blue-indigo eyes had an experienced steel to them. The boy continued to scold him, keeping his eyes away from Light's and pointed at the ground, "You're hurting yourself, stupid."

The kid lifted himself from his seat and brushed off his pants, which were already filthy despite their originally white color, and approached Light with a lazy gait. Light noted that the purple flowers, which smelled oddly of herbs, followed the boy wherever he stood. The result was a trail of purple, almost violet, flowers leading to Light. The kid let himself slump onto the ground, crushing the flowers below him without much care, and tugged on Light's pant leg.

Frustrated and unable to do much more, Light conformed without much of a fight. He bent his knees slowly, wary of the newfound injury on his back, and sat himself down without too much overbearing pain. Blinking out the fogginess in his eyes, Light looked down at the child with a nonchalant expression.

"Kirishima Ayato, and don't bother calling me by my last name," the newfound Ayato said with a bit of spite to him. The kid didn't bother extending a hand nor bowing, opting to ball his hands into fists in his lap instead.

"Yagami Light, and it's nice to meet you, Ayato," Light said in his normal fashion. He wondered if he was going to have to make up an act for the child, but he really didn't want to bother with that given the situation.

"Of course," Ayato grumbled, snorting in irritation, "I'm stuck with a headass in heaven. Or hell. Whatever the fuck this is."

A moment of awkward silence passed between the two, and Light finally spoke up, "I don't think either of us is dead. I have stitches on my back, so someone must have found my body. But, what about you?"

"No," Ayato immediately shrugged off the notion, "I'm sure that I couldn't have lived through what happened to me. This is probably the place between the afterlife and life or some shit like that. I'm dead, you're _almost dead_. That would explain why it's only me and you; not many of us die, or come close to it, at the same time anyways."

"Wait," Light caught him before the topic could come to rest, "What do you mean by 'us'? Is there something I'm missing here?"

"What?" Ayato deadpanned, looking at him incredulously. The boy's eyes darted to Light's right, as if scrutinizing him, and back to make eye contact, "You can't be shitting me right now. Your eye? Even if you're one-eyed you're still one of us."

Light said absolutely nothing in response, and his lack of anything was enough to set Ayato off.

"Goddamn!" Ayato spat out at him, pinching the bridge of his nose with a small hand, "Maybe your head was fucked with or something. You have a headache or something?"

"Yes, but I remember my head being bashed into the ground by this masked man," Ayato blanched, and Light continued, "He was wearing a mask, I believe it was a hockey mask, and his eyes were demonic, to say the least. He had white hair too. Does that sound familiar?"

"There's no way you're _that_ dense," Ayato murmured through the fingers that covered his face. He lifted his head up and stared Light straight in the eyes, "That was _Jason_. You know, the S-rated ghoul that's in charge of Aogiri? The most _infamous_ executive of the whole damn group!?"

"Ghoul?" Light asked dryly, feeling a bit of prickling in his right eye.

" _You_ , you dumbass!" Ayato finally shouted, waving his arms in the air. He pointed dramatically at Light and hissed, "You're a ghoul. Even with your _fucked_ eye, you're still a ghoul! You can't be telling me that you forgot what you _are_."

"Ayato," Light breathed a deep breath and noticed the way Ayato was glaring daggers at him. He unconsciously rubbed the wound on his back and continued speaking in a calm, in-control tone, "I am not lying to you when I say that I am _not_ a ghoul and I have absolutely no idea _what_ a ghoul is. I have no idea what is wrong with my eye, and I'm not even sure why we're here. Just explain from your end, and start with the subject of ghouls."

"Ugh," Ayato groaned under his breath, "You're using Uncle Renji's 'I'm not upset, just disappointed' voice. Fine, I'll start with ghouls."

Ayato made a point to look at Light with his unique indigo eyes. The boy covered them with his right palm and waited a second. The moment the boy pulled his hand away, those same demonic eyes that put Light in this purgatory met his once more.

Light, with a shriek, attempted to stumble back out of fear, but his back left him blind with pain. He covered his face with his hands and laid down on his side, waiting for the pangs of pain to ebb away. He reluctantly shrank into himself, letting his arms drop down to his sides.

Ayato scooted into his field of vision, dragging his purple flowers with him into the sea of white roses. The boy looked almost disappointed, still wearing those red pupils that danced in a sea of darkness.

"You're like a human," Ayato grumbled, crouching with his hands on his knees while facing Light, "I'm a ghoul, and you're one too, ignoring the fact that you have no memory of it. One of your eyes is like mine, and you smell like one too."

"That's impossible," Light flustered a bit, trying to rationalize the child's words, "I _know_ that I'm human and not–not a ghoul. I don't have those eyes, and you haven't even explained _what_ a ghoul is yet. And smell?"

"I'm gonna have to really explain this to you?" Ayato decried, running a hand through his scalp. Ayato pointed to himself, "Ghoul." Ayato pointed at Light, "Ghoul." Ayato pointed to himself again, gesturing towards his eyes and then the area between his shoulders, slightly towards the left, "Kakugan and kakuhou."

Ayato hissed a bit and Light flinched again as something large emerged from the boy's shoulders. They took on a sharp, rigid form as Ayato forced them out, and the crystal-like object began to shape themselves into a silhouette of wings, still attached to the young child's back. Light, despite his impasse expression, was undergoing a mental breakdown. His fingers rubbed his brow in frustration.

"Kagune," Ayato deadpanned, gesturing behind him. Light took a sharp breath and waited for Ayato to continue despite the many questions he had. Ayato, with reluctance, continued speaking when Light's face still showed confusion, "You _know_ this, come on! The apex predator? King of the food chain? I heard the CCG even calls us 'wolves in sheep's clothing', whatever the fuck that means. Wolves are cool."

Light pondered the last statement, mostly focusing on the 'wolves in sheep's clothing' analogy. Did that mean ghouls were only human-like on the outside? Ayato had mentioned a few words that were more or less foreign to Light.

"So," Light started slowly, tapping his chin, "Ghouls are _not_ human?"

"Yes, yes. Yeah," Ayato rushed, trying to jam the so-called kagune back into his back, "We're a different spec-eyes. Ghouls can only eat people, humans _don't_ eat people."

"Species," Light offhandedly corrected, dwelling on the fact that ghouls are not only predators, but they're predators specifically to humans. His face blanched at the implication that he was a ghoul. He _knew_ he was human, and it should be impossible for him to suddenly turn into a ghoul.

Ayato grunted at the correction but otherwise stayed relatively calm for a kid. Light held his face in his palms, now sitting up, considering his options. Should he ask about himself being a ghoul? The kid said there was proof of it, but Light wasn't willing to bet that anything in this place was physically real.

If that were true, then he could completely ignore the _thing_ that blasted out of Ayato's shoulders.

"I understand what you say you are, but I don't support your… eating habits," Light started, eliciting a scowl from Ayato, "I just don't get why you think _I'm_ a ghoul. And you didn't answer about the 'smelling' question."

"One," Ayato raised a finger, "I _know_ you're a ghoul because you have a kakugan like me, just in one of your eyes." Before Light could interrupt, Ayato raised a second finger, "Two: ghouls have better senses than humans, so I know what you are just by being around you." Ayato slid a finger over his lip and looked down in concern, "This is like explaining the internet to Uncle Renji. Are you sure you remember being human?"

"Ayato, I can't take you seriously about that. How do I know that you're not lying about my eye? What if this place isn't even real and I'm just hallucinating? Ghouls _don't_ exist; I've never heard of anything like this," Light said exasperatedly, trying to reason with the child, "I _know_ I'm human; I remember being human and I've never been anything else. You have my word on that."

"You're delusional," Ayato fumed, "You said you saw Jason, right? If you saw him, then that should be proof enough that ghouls exist. And you think you can just imagine me up, idiot!? I'm a person too, and for whatever reasons we're stuck here. _Together_."

"Look, kid," Light started before feeling a pang of drowsiness hit him completely off guard. It was so disorienting that he lost his train of thought completely, almost slumping over in the exhaustion that had slammed into him like a truck.

Ayato's angered expression quickly melted away, shifting into alarm almost instantaneously. He opened his mouth to speak before he slumped over in a sudden motion. The wind stopped blowing against Light's skin, and the flowers ceased in their dancing.

Light blacked out before he could even register Ayato's motionless form.

・・・・

"Wait, maybe that shock was a bit too strong. It startled him awake," a voice echoed in Light's ears, surprisingly louder than he was used to. He tried to lift himself up, but the pain from his back was amplified from when he was asleep, so he was left essentially paralyzed wherever he was.

"Shh," another voice jumped in, sounding a great deal concerned, "Don't startle him. The last thing we need is for him to start bleeding like that again. Just leave the room; the wound's clean now. Not a word"

"Right, boss," the first voice complied as heavy footsteps faded away and a nearby door clicked shut.

The screech of metal assaulted Light's ears, getting closer to him with each drawled out second. Finally, the screeching stopped and a face popped into his vision. An elder man, seemingly in his forties or fifties, with overhanging ashen hair, fair brown eyes, and an ordinary amount of wrinkles in the forehead.

"Ah, Yagami, are you okay? Is it alright if we drop the formalities?" the man queried, fiddling around with the bed to elevate Light ever so slightly. The man found the perfect spot between upright and laid down just to prevent more pain to Light's newfound injury. The man continued despite not receiving an answer to the question, "For the time being, I am your Doctor: Doctor Kanou. Don't feel the need to bow, shake hands, or even move. Half of your ribs were shattered from behind, and we had to replace a few organs with the damage that was done. Though, you're lucky that your spine wasn't touched; that would have put you in a bed like this for life."

Light blanched and a bit of pain cascaded through his head. There must have been visible anguish on his face because Doctor Kanou took it upon himself to speak up again.

"Not to mention, you seemed to have suffered a severe concussion, so we also took it upon ourselves to _ensure_ you were not permanently damaged from whatever caused it," Kanou pulled a clipboard off of the side of Light's hospital bed, quickly checking on the many monitors that were hooked up to Light's side. He pulled a few black sheets of paper with noticeable x-rays printed on them and pointed them at Light, tracing a pencil over the skull area. "There was a fracture right here," Kanou circled the front of the skull which showed a visible, yet almost undetectable, jagged line in it, "The frontal lobe was barely touched, though you may have experienced some minor trauma in that region. I wouldn't be surprised if you have, say, minor headaches, some mood swings, maybe even the occasional random sound in your head for the next few months. Now that the basics are covered, do you have _any_ questions?"

"Have you contacted my family?" Light asked, the dryness in his throat catching him by surprise. For his own self-worth, Light sincerely hoped that his father wasn't preoccupied with this. The man was already stressed to the bone, and he couldn't imagine the mental and physical wear it would put on him.

"Yes, _both_ of your guardians have been informed of your condition. Though, for your health, I advised them to give you at least a week of recovery without major distractions," Kanou, with a deceptive smirk, continued, "Of course, we cannot have one of our patients exerting himself socially when he is recovering from an organ transplant. Especially with the lungs; being out of breath would not aid your recovery. Anything else?"

Kanou, despite his overbearingly kind disposition, was obviously delighted. What of, Light was unsure, but he was increasingly uncomfortable around the man. The mix of chemicals in the air, their pungent smell, the artificial lighting, and the white-tiled room did not sit well with Light, and something else in his mind agreed with the discomfort.

"I have more questions," Light said slowly, "But I think I want to be alone for a while."

"Of course," Kanou shot back, continuously wearing his smile without missing a beat, "Just buzz me in if you need assistance or you're _hungry_. Try not to rest though, you were nearly on the verge of flatlining earlier. I would suggest flexing your arms and legs a little to get the blood pumping at a healthy level."

"Okay," Light replied, eager to have the room to himself.

The man walked out of his field of vision and the door squealed open before clicking shut. Light let his hands rise to his face, cradling his cheeks as he let all the information sink in. With a resigned sigh, Light held his hands to his chest and wriggled them around half-heartedly and rested back onto the artificially white hospital bed.

That is until a voice spoke up.

" _H–Hello?"_ the voice questioned hesitantly, sounding much like the boy Light had encountered in his dream-like state, _"Can you hear me?"_

"Ayato?" Light asked compulsively before realizing that he had absolutely no clue where the voice had originated from. He was in a room with another empty bed, but he still craned his head to look for the child in question.

" _I–I don't think… I'm not… ugh,"_ Ayato scrambled for words, and Light was left at a loss. There were no visible tics, but Light could tell that the boy was thinking, wherever he was. Something akin to a sigh sounded and Ayato spoke again, _"Okay, just do me a favor. Blink and then flex your fingers, but do it in front of your eyes."_

Light blinked, wondering where this would lead the conversation. He then proceeded to outstretch his arm and flex his fingers around loosely.

" _Holy shit,"_ Ayato hissed and something akin to a sob or a cough hit Light by surprise. Ayato sniffed, seemingly pulling himself together, and said in a shaky voice, _"Doesn't matter anymore. We're one person now."_ Ayato made a noise that sounded much like clearing one's throat, and Light let it click that the voice was indeed coming from his head and nowhere else.

A sharp breath passed, and Light barely took the time to register the headache that was growing in the back of his head. A new thought came along, and he wondered if he could talk to Ayato without sounding like he belonged in a mental hospital. Could he direct thoughts? Was there a boundary between thinking about things and _speaking_ _inside_ your mind?

With a bit of an experimental attitude, Light tentatively thought about speaking to Ayato, and something fit like puzzle pieces in his mind.

" _That was easier than I thought it would be,"_ Light observed, still somewhat shocked by the revelation that there was _someone living in his head_. He directed his thoughts again, finding it to be an almost instantaneous connection, _"Can you hear this?"_

" _Mhmm,"_ Ayato hummed, observably quieter than he had been the first time Light had met him. Ayato, out of his own necessity, continued to speak in a more hushed tone, _"I can see, hear, smell, and feel everything you do too. It's like being in a cage, but it moves."_

Light subconsciously shivered at the notion of his body being a cage, but he furrowed his brow in concentration as well. For better or worse, he and Ayato were stuck together. To what extent, Light didn't know, but he was determined to find out. Light mentally reviewed the conversation they had had earlier, and a few key points stuck out like a sore thumb: the existence of ghouls, him _being_ a ghoul despite his own objections, and that Ayato himself was a ghoul. There was the added fact that he was attacked by a ghoul, and conclusively Light had to assume that he was, for his current state's sake, in a world inhabited by man-eating monsters in human skin.

Great, he summarized.

" _Ayato, is there any way that we can disprove that I'm a ghoul?"_ Light questioned, eager to strike out the most important topic that had been brought out earlier.

" _I guess I can't know since I'm not looking at you,"_ Ayato went quiet for a bit, and Light let himself close his eyes in deep thought. The pain was nearly gone despite the fact that his body had been repaired recently, and that suddenly alarmed him. Ayato spoke again, _"If you can eat human food, then you're not a ghoul. That's the only way to prove it."_

Light, without batting an eye, pressed the button on the side of the bed with a resigned sigh. The button buzzed for a few seconds, and footsteps approached from outside the hospital room door. Even Light was left at an odds at how he was able to hear them, but he chose to focus on getting through his task for his own sanity.

A knock sounded, and then the door opened without much hesitation.

"Hello again," Kanou walked in with a lopsided smirk and faced Light. The man's face brightened considerably before quickly checking the monitor and taking a seat beside Light once more. He spoke, "May I ask why I was buzzed in?"

"Yes," Light started with a tired edge to his voice. He went on with much care for the personal image he wanted to maintain, "I've realized I haven't eaten since the morning I was checked in, so I should probably eat something. I hope it isn't an inconvenience, that is."

" _Kiss ass,"_ Ayato grumbled in the back of his mind. Light paid no attention to this. He simply knew better.

"It's perfectly fine, Yagami," Kanou waved whatever doubts Light had off and got up abruptly, "Since we had to repair part of your stomach, I'd prefer that I observe and check for any abnormalities. I trust that won't be a problem, correct?"

Kanou shot his words back with the same level of overly sweet kindness, and it felt like complete crap to Light. Here they were: two people who wore masks to please the other despite neither caring about the other's impression. What an irony.

"Of course not," Light replied, a bit of dry humor still tasted on the back of his tongue. He felt the top of his palate with his tongue and swallowed what little saliva he had in his mouth.

"Alright, I'll be right back then."

The door screeched again, and Light was left with nothing but the sound of incandescent lights buzzing constantly. Ayato took this gap to speak again.

" _Why do you do that?"_ he whined, and Light could almost imagine the facial expression Ayato would have worn: hunched in on himself while wearing a scowl.

" _Do what?"_ Light responded without missing a beat, but he knew that the charade could only go on for so long with someone else glued to him 24/7.

No, Ayato would be onto him after watching him for a day, or a few weeks if he was really dense. Not that Light cared:

It was all boring anyway. Maybe this is a change he needed…

Some excitement, any. Not welcome, but not completely unwelcome.

Yes, that was it. Just barely contained chaos in his life, all there for him to fix.

Another thought bubbled up, and it was something that he had almost forgotten about on that night. The reason he went searching for someone. Before he could fully consider that, Ayato interrupted his thoughts.

" _You know!"_ Ayato screeched, demonstrating a temper that was exceedingly shorter than Light's own. That was okay, Light thought, because he was thick-skinned anyway. Calm and collected, he reassured himself without much effort. Ayato continued his rant without any hesitation, _"You're like a robot! Fuckin' kissing ass here and there while being completely weird. You did it to me and that Kanou shithead, so open–"_

"Yagami, I have an omelet on rice, is that okay?" a voice cut in. Soft, gentle breathing emanated from the door, and Light knew that Kanou was at the door despite the fact that he _shouldn't_.

"– _up!"_ Ayato finished after the voice had spoken. Light craned his neck to the side and hushed Ayato down, despite the child's retorts. Kanou walked into Light's peripheral vision, and the man had a tray in his arms and was softly smiling that same damned smile.

Light, despite the angered screaming that was still reverberating through his aching head, nodded without so much as a word. He even mustered a dry smile, but he knew that his eyes were void of any joy.

"Alright," Kanou set the tray tentatively over Light's lap, quietly taking a seat next to the teenager and speaking with the same soft, controlled tone as before, "I'll just stay here to make sure you don't react violently to anything. Of course, you're safe if you happen to choke." Kanou nodded firmly and displayed the contents of the tray by lifting the lids off of one of the two bowls there, "This is a simple omelet on rice, I personally asked for foods that wouldn't be hard on the digestive system, and I have another dish that should be fine if this one isn't to your liking."

Light took a second to register the double meaning to the man's sentence, but he paid little heed to his words because the stench of the food was almost unbearable to be around. The eggs were somehow rotten and rancid despite their perfect appearance, and the rice was void of scent altogether. Even Ayato was suppressing gags in the back of his mind, and Light couldn't help but agree with the boy's sentiments.

Light was absolutely certain that he couldn't consume it, and he was concerned as to whether or not the Doctor himself was completely nose-blind, but he cautiously lifted the fork, hiding his disgusted expression behind a trained mask, and shoved a bite of omelet with a bit of rice into his mouth.

The gag was almost instantaneous, and Kanou suppressed a smile in the corner of Light's eyes.

It dawned upon Light that he _couldn't_ , in fact, do this and that maybe the egg itself was rotten after all; it tasted like how raw sewage _smelled_. Ayato griped about denial in the back of his head, but Light wasn't ready to resign his humanity quite yet.

Light waved for a napkin, and Kanou helpfully supplied a cheap, paper-thin napkin for Light to choke out the bits of food. His tongue wriggled around desperately to rub the taste off, but he knew that he would have to bear with it until the taste ebbed away.

"Are you sure that egg wasn't rotten?" Light asked cautiously, very much aware that the man had known something about this. Kanou continued to wear that little grin of his.

"Hmm," the man supplied ever so _helpfully_ , even tapping his chin in mock suspicion. The man's face shifted as if he had undergone a revelation, and he spoke again, "Well, I'm sure the staff had tasted this before leaving, but the rice should be perfectly fine."

The ceramic dish scraped towards Light, and the teenager gave a skeptical look at the Doctor and then the plate in front of him. Light hesitantly snatched another forkful of food, exclusively rice this time, and directly placed it on his tongue to spite Ayato's claims.

Still, Light visibly gagged. The taste resembled the smell of burnt cigarettes, and he could closely link the texture to something like cardboard or even paper. Rice could _not_ be botched; it was simply impossible to ruin something as simple to make as rice.

His confidence was dwindling, and there really wasn't much more he could say in his defense. Oddly enough, he was finding Ayato's hypothesis to be more and more likely by the second.

Right, he breathed. A little more chaos, but nothing he couldn't handle.

Yes, a perfectly acceptable chaos that he could manage and still convince the world that he was fine.

Yes.

Much to Light's utter chagrin, he used the same napkin to spit out the rice bits and sent a low, harsh glare towards the Doctor. The man continued to smile.

" _Let's assume,"_ Light started reluctantly while cleaning his mouth, _"–that your theory is correct, Ayato. How did I get this way, then?"_

" _I honestly don't have an answer,"_ Ayato admitted begrudgingly. The boy hushed down completely in the face of a new plate being presented to Light and him.

The man lifted the lid, and a bloody mess laid before them.

" _That's human meat."_

Light breathed before refusing the plate completely, claiming he was not really that hungry anymore.

Kanou walked out the door silently, and Light was left to lament what fragments were left of his humanity.

He could never admit, to anyone, that the plate smelled _good_.

・・・・

There sat a chair.

A lone chair which was placed in the center of a checkerboard floor. Worn straps were bolted to the chair's arms and legs, and they squealed with movement.

There was a body in the chair.

"Please…" the body spoke, devoid of life. The next sentence was expected, "Kill me."

A light was shined in blank eyes, and the body shrunk in on itself.

"It's your lucky day, then." a white-haired man spoke, putting down a pair of bolt-cutters and sweeping up a notebook. It was black with white English letters, and the man shivered with unspoken delight. He chuckled towards the body, "Name your choice."

The body stutters, and it shakes with some hope of vindication, some retribution for its suffering.

"I want to _choke_ ," it speaks, hands clacking violently in their leatherbound prison.

A quick scribble passes in the room, and the white-haired figure unbuckles the body's hands.

They dart, effortlessly, to the body's throat. The body smiles as its own hands squeeze its neck shut to the point of asphyxiation.

The body becomes a corpse.

"How…" the white-haired figure fishes for words, not daring to mislabel such a gift, " _interesting_."

・・・・

 **If you have questions about characterization, don't worry.**

 **Here's some context:**

 **Light doesn't have the Death Note as Kira, so he isn't completely full of himself and he definitely does not have his God Complex yet. As far as we're concerned, he is the same Light as during the Yotsuba Arc.**

 **Ayato is young, but he is still as coarse as his canonical character due to his life experiences. A ghoul has probably been exposed to worse at a young age, so cursing is honestly the least of his problems.**

 **I tried to make Kanou and Yamori as psychotic as they are in canon, but it's hard to gauge how far they've gone since the timeline attributes to how desperate they are. I'm fairly sure Yamori was on spot for this chapter, but you tell me if you disagree. I think Kanou is about right for his age.**

 **Please leave a review, I need criticism and feedback so I can improve on what I've written.**


	6. Chapter 4: Blank

**Welp, here's my pound of flesh folks.**

 **You all already know that this story is fucked up from the last few warnings, so I don't really need to update that "fucked up" list.**

 **Enjoy.**

 _・・・・_

 _Words_ = Normal dialogue or narration with emphasis

" _Words"_ = Inner Dialogue (This is exclusively for scenes that take place in the real world only, and this only applies to Light and Ayato)

・・・・

" _ **We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."**_

 _ **~Ronald Reagan**_

・・・・

Light was pleasantly surprised when no-one else came by to shove food at him for the rest of the day, but the lack of interaction also left something to be desired.

Stewing in his own insanity, his own vile thoughts, was not good for his health. Though, having a companion to bother him was, at the very least, a decent distraction from the insanity. Despite this, he was still sure that his physical appearance was taking a hit from his lack of care at the moment.

He really didn't want to bother anyway.

After the sun had stopped glaring through the curtains of his room, Light began to feel the tingling of his nerves, his brain jumping up and down for him to do something, _anything_.

Yet, he waited. For something, anything, to break him out of his reverie.

Nothing happened, and Ayato remained deathly silent.

・・・・

As it turned out, both his father and mother had stopped by the hospital to visit, but the staff had refused them for unspecified reasons. That, in it of itself, was extremely suspicious, but Light didn't exactly dislike the lack of company.

He thought Ayato was asleep, if he could even achieve such a state – writing off his complete silence as slumber, that is. Having another living being in his mind was something unknown and wretchedly new to him. Light supposed that this was a learning process for the both of them, and he quietly tapped his fingers in thought.

It felt nearly taboo to have this much time to himself, but Light continued in a silent daze that stretched nearly until the lights went out at the hospital. Ayato had still not spoke a single word throughout the entire day, and Light began to wonder what had happened to him.

He began to wonder about the doctor who had spoken to him not a day ago as well. The slimy, deceptive man was nowhere to be found, and Light couldn't exactly leave his quarters and mosey around for the man. No, he wanted answers while simultaneously being chained to a room that held absolutely nothing. What a pity.

It was nearing midnight, and he exhaled deeply, staring into the analog clock bolted onto the wall, watching its red-hued numbers tick towards the final minutes of the day. His eyes peered around, desperately, looking for something to focus on. His brain lagged behind him, rolling forward at the pace of a snail. He blinked the fogginess out of his eyes and tapped his fingers methodically on the blanket, the sound completely muted by the thin cotton.

Finally, in a resigned huff, Light conceded to defeat and let himself lay back onto the hospital bed, stiffly laying against the too-thin pillow that held his head.

He slowly drifted from the conscious world as the buzzing of artificial lights hummed in his ears.

・・・・

"So, I thought about it…" Ayato started, out of the blue.

Light blinked. He was in the same field as before, surrounded by a plethora of white roses and a too-perfect sky. Ayato sat in his reserved patch of flowers; they smelled of rosemary now that Light wasn't as panicked as before. It quickly registered in his mind that this was a dream, possibly his subconscious mind.

He blinked again before focusing on Ayato, fully paying attention this time.

"And I think I'm.. dead," Ayato finished, trembling a bit with the final word. He rubbed at his eyes and grumbled a bit, "I'm already over it–" he clearly wasn't, but Light didn't make a comment "–and I think we're only here, together, because that dumbass doctor used m-my organs to fix you."

Light wasn't sure how that conclusion came along to Ayato, but it was the best lead he had so far. He could find physical proof of that later, but he decided to go along with it anyway.

"But–" Light started cautiously.

"But how, right?" Ayato ran his right hand through his scalp and began to absentmindedly pick the lavender-colored flowers at his knees. He shifted into a one-sided kneel and spoke as he jammed another flower from the ground, "How the _fuck_ did my organs end up in you?"

Right, Ayato was as lost as he was in the situation. No use in avoiding beating around the bush, he summed.

"Well," Light started, rubbing his thumb on the hem of his sleeve, "Let's examine what happened step by step. What do you remember happening before, well, death?" It was blunt and maybe too much so for a child, but Light only cared for the facts at this point, sensitivity came last to solving a case.

"Not a lot," Ayato's thumb drifted to his face and he traced circles over his lips. "I don't even remember how it happened, I only remember… uh… hmm." Ayato paused, looking down rather abruptly and clamming up a bit with his arms and knees. Light realized that he had hit a rather sensitive spot.

"Go on," Light encouraged him, even falsifying a grin for Ayato. Much to Light's chagrin, Ayato closed up even more, arms bound tight around his chest.

"I don't need to talk about it, it's not important," Ayato blurted quickly, eyes darting away from Light's. He changed the topic, "We just know that I died and that we're some sort of weird, fucked up combo that shouldn't really exist. Perfect."

Ayato's words ended with an overly sarcastic bite to them. Light knew something was up about Ayato's death, but he would give the kid some space. It was a waiting game; eventually he would gain his trust and understand what happened.

"I'm _not_ human anymore, Ayato," Light breathed harshly through his nose and felt some bitterness rise in his throat. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked pointedly at Ayato, "I can't eat normal food, so I have to be ghoul. That means that Doctor Kanou purposefully gave me, what you called, a kakuhou. He couldn't have _accidentally_ transplanted an organ like that, Ayato. Think about this, he _knew_ what he was doing!"

Ayato looked at him slantedly and rubbed his hands together slowly, almost as if he were reading Light like a book. Light knew otherwise, but he kept his pointed look on Ayato.

"So what do we do now?" Ayato barked, suddenly raising his tune an octave higher. He seethed, "We're stuck together now and I can't do _shit_ about it." Ayato abruptly stood and clenched his fists together at his sides, "What do you want _me_ to do about it, huh?! Want me to fucking reverse time? What am I supposed to do now that I'm glued to your side?"

Light looked cooly at Ayato as he vented out, spouting increasingly nonsensical things as his screaming began to become more and more raw. Eventually Ayato stopped, eyes pouring, and plopped himself onto the ground. He stared at the ground and the occasional sob choked itself out.

Fairly sure that Ayato's tantrum had subsided, Light slowly rose from his seat among the white flowers and approached Ayato, making cautiously calculated moves that wouldn't stoke his anger again. Finally approaching from the side, Light bent down a bit and rubbed Ayato on the shoulder silently.

"I don't expect you to have all the answers, Ayato," Light defused the situation, plastering another smile onto his face. He continued slowly, "I'm only asking so that I can understand what happened to _us_ better. Trust me, I want to fix this as much as you do, but I can't do it without the right information." Light got up, and he peered into the cloudless sky. "I just want you to try and make it easy for the both of us; tell me how to be a ghoul, and I can figure this out with you."

"Why?" Ayato choked out. "Why should I help you?"

Light faltered a bit, trying to find something reasonable for Ayato to latch onto. The solution clicked quickly in his mind.

"I have a family back home, Ayato," Light looked back at Ayato, making eye contact with him immediately. "They're human, and I would lose them if I go out of control. I want them to be safe, and I want _us_ to be safe. The last thing I want is to leave my family behind, Ayato." It was a half-lie, Light certainly did not want to die, but that consequently meant leaving his family behind. Half-truths, maybe.

Light's answer seemed sufficient enough for Ayato, as he began to pull himself together quite quickly. Light noted his speedy recovery, just in case it could be useful in the future.

"Alright, then," Ayato sniffed, rubbing the back of his hand against his nose rather aggressively. "I'll teach you what I know, but you're gonna have to promise to keep this stuff away from your family. One whiff of this and the CCG is gonna be on your ass."

"Ah, yes… I'll agree to that." Light paused for a second. That would be difficult to pull off, especially since he was injured, but he knew it meant death for the both of them if his secret got out. "Start from the beginning, including the 'CCG'."

"Ugh," Ayato grunted, crossing his arms, "All humans are clueless. Let's start." He positioned himself into a cross-legged pose and laced his fingers together loosely. "The CCG is basically a group of government-hired shitheads that hunt down ghouls for the sake of hunting us down. They think that we're heartless, uncontrollable monsters that need to be killed, so they're always looking for ghouls."

"Well, they wouldn't have reason to think that without proof, right?" Light theorized, taking a seat beside Ayato. "That must mean that there are _some_ ghouls who are, in your words, 'heartless, uncontrollable monsters'."

"Hmm… well, yeah," Ayato muttered beneath the fist he had placed on his lips. "Kind of, at least. Sometimes ghouls go out of their way to kill and eat people for fun, but that's not most ghouls. A good amount of ghouls only get like that when they haven't eaten in _months_."

"Ah, I'm generalizing, aren't I?" Light asked lightly. Ayato looked a bit puzzled, so Light simplified, "I mean, I was making a huge assumption about ghouls back there."

"Yeah, you _were_ ," Ayato hissed. He dragged on anyway, "The CCG's deal is simple enough: stay away and you won't be killed. Any questions?" The final sentence was delivered with some bite.

"How do they kill?" Light was fully aware that ghouls were physiologically superior to humans, Ayato had mentioned it a few times before, but then how could humans manage to topple their predator? There wasn't a clear answer to Light, and Ayato knew more than him.

"Fair enough," Ayato shrugged. He pointed behind him, to his upper back, and spoke, "A while ago, I think maybe in the last fifty or something years, some fuck-o decided to pick up some dead ghoul's kakuhou and make it into a weapon using electricity 'n shit. Then they made a lot of 'em. Only ghouls can _really_ hurt other ghouls, so they decided to use our own parts against us."

That was… chilling, Light supposed. It wasn't enough to have them die naturally; humans had to exterminate them just in _case_ all ghouls decided to become aggressive. The preliminary thought behind their ideas made him grow rather bitter.

"I think that matter is settled then," Light moved on, wanting to understand his new predicament fully. He went to the topic of combat immediately, "If I ever have to encounter the CCG, then how can I defend myself? Or how do I fight other aggressive ghouls in general?"

"That's easy," Ayato brightened a bit, and he flexed his fingers out from under his face. "Remember that 'thing' I showed you when we first met, from behind my back? That's a kagune, our only weapon. Mine– _Ours_ is suited towards really fast attacks 'n movement and then we run out of steam pretty fast, so we're more of a surprise-attacker if you get what I mean."

Light understood rather clearly and nodded in response. While Light greatly disliked the idea of being mainly an attacker, he knew that he was going to have to work with the cards he was dealt. Beside the fact that he had a short stamina, he could at least make a quick getaway in case of an emergency. Difficult, but potentially useful.

"Right, I think we can skip most of the other shit since it isn't really important right now," Ayato waved it off as he spoke. "What you really need to know is that you need to eat a whole human every month or you'll tear up the first fucking person next to you; that means _game over_. If you really want to keep your family safe, make sure you're fed. There'll be a missing persons case within a week if you're not serious."

"So what do I do then?" Light was left at a loss; he wasn't supposed to reveal himself to people, he couldn't kill someone within his own volition, and he was a ticking time bomb to his family and himself. There was no positive side to this situation.

"You either kill or get killed, Light," Ayato shook his head dismally. "Unless you want to scavenge around for scraps of other ghoul's kills, and even then you're not gonna find much. Ghouls kill for themselves and themselves _only_. They won't stretch their neck out for a stranger."

Light considered his options. While he didn't really want to hunt, he could at least try to minimize his casualties– it felt _wrong_ to think that. If he was going to have to scavenge corpses, then let it be. Even grave robbing was a better option than having more blood on his hands.

"I'll scavenge if I have to Ayato, understand where I'm coming from," Light said softly. He blinked slowly and rested his hands on his knees, "I _can't_ kill someone, it goes against everything I believe in. I don't care if I have to steal corpses, even that's better than hunting. If you're going to teach me how to use this _kagune_ , then it'll be for defense and defense _only_."

"Why are you so set on being human!?" Ayato grew frustrated in a snap, and Light was slightly alarmed at how emotional Ayato could become. "You're not one of them anymore, so don't try and act like one when it comes to survival. There's gonna be some day where you're gonna have to put down a human whether or not you want to, so _give up_."

Light's eyes hardened to steel and his hands clenched as he dug his nails into the knees of his pants.

"I'm not going to be a killer, Ayato," Light retorted with frustration. He didn't want to kill anyone, no. He got himself into this situation by looking for death, so he would avoid it completely in the future; lesson completely learned. Something flashed in the back of his mind, but it was already gone by the time he registered it. His determination steeled as he spoke, "I refuse to take a single life if I can help it."

"Are you really gonna be like that?" Ayato spat out. He was scrunched over and digging a hole in the ground with a single finger. When Light failed to give a response, Ayato griped again, "Fine, then I won't tell you anything else. If you're _so_ set on following your rules, then I won't help you at all; it's not my life."

"That's," Light said slowly, calculating his words carefully, "petty."

"Who gives a damn if it is, I'll let you suffer," Ayato shot back, pulling a flower from the ground are tossing it aside carelessly. "I won't tell you anything until you're _begging_."

Light remained silent for a paltry moment. He didn't know how to do anything on his own, but Ayato wasn't going to be reliable anymore. He'd have to compromise, then.

"Fine," Light got up from beside Ayato and turned away, walking slowly, "If you're not going to help, then I'll figure this out on my _own_."

Those dangerous words stirred in the air, but neither person spoke again.

・・・・

The week and a half went by relatively fast, and Ayato hadn't said a word since their argument. Light was sure he would come around eventually, but he also greatly disliked that Ayato was monitoring his every move. He despised being scrutinized like this.

Despite that, things had went surprisingly smooth. Kanou hadn't made another appearance since their first meeting, and Light suspected this was because he didn't want to answer any questions. All the nurses would give him half-hearted answers and refusals to his inquiries, so he had gained absolutely nothing from staying there.

Light had also noticed another key detail to his newfound ghoul-hood; his injury had completely healed within two days of the incident. Specifically, Light woke up the morning after their argument and all the stiffness and pain had suddenly disappeared overnight. He was exceedingly relieved that there were at least _some_ perks to being a ghoul.

The hospital had finally deemed him ready to leave too, so he had been forced to get up and walk around for at least the last two days. His legs ached from slight atrophy, but it wasn't necessarily bad. Today marked the 12th day in the hospital, and they would dispatch him by the end of it.

His parents would pick him up at the entrance and this whole ordeal would be dealt with. He had other priorities to focus on now, though. The first issue was to get food by the next morning so that he wouldn't get unstable; however, he knew he would have to sacrifice sleep that night in order to scout.

Yet, there was some sort of excitement that bubbled inside of him; he'd never had such immunity before in his life. Before, he knew he could be killed on the streets by quite anyone. Now he had the insurance of relatively quick healing and a defense mechanism specifically designed to maim humans. While he had no idea how to use the latter, he was set on discovering everything this night.

The notion intrigued him more, and he was even more excited at the notion of doing something without having to wear his proverbial mask on. Yes, he knew he might have to make a makeshift mask to cover his face in case he was caught out, but he didn't have to _act_ anymore. It was as though a weight were lifted off his chest, and he could finally breathe again.

There he stood, ready to embrace a completely new world; it was different, so _un-human_ , but it was endearing at the same time. There was freedom where he had never seen it before, and it was something so _new_.

Societal conventions be damned, Light was now deviant; he had another life that wasn't attached to his human one.

"Yagami Light?" A nurse peered in around the door frame, hands curled tentatively around the wood.

"Yes?" he asked from his bed, now fully facing the woman who had intruded.

"Your father is here to dismiss you."

This was it; his new life would start right here, right _now_.

・・・・

Reunions were, at best, bittersweet. Upon meeting his father, Light was engulfed in a tight hug and was delivered few paltry words. His father could be obsessive, almost too obsessive at times. It didn't matter what his father could have done; it was in the past and Light simply accepted that.

Soichiro Yagami, however, did not. The man had clearly beaten himself up over it, as he had looked incredibly disheveled when Light was picked up, and Light's words couldn't soothe the man's demons. They ended up sitting in silence for the rest of the car ride.

Suddenly, his father spoke.

"Light," his father spoke whilst drumming his fingers against the wheel. He had the same tone that he used to deal with police matters, something Light has heard extensively over the years. He knew this was going to be serious. "You know we're going to do an investigation on this, right? It's okay if you're not up for it, but–" his father darted his eyes towards him quickly before focusing back on the road, "Can you give us a lead? Anything works."

Light turned his head away to face the window, glaring at the passing buildings. He considered his options. On one hand, he could easily give the police clues as to what happened, but the killer could never be caught due to the fact that he was a ghoul and he could be compromised entirely. On another hand, Light could completely drop the case and draw some suspicion to himself instead. Though, he could attribute it to the injury of the frontal lobe; a concussion worked as a perfect excuse.

"I don't," Light caught himself before he could say 'think'. That was too ambiguous, it left too much room for interpretation. He restarted, "I _can't_ give you anything; I got a concussion. I don't remember much about what happened except for that I was _stabbed_."

A decent lie, but not much was needed to completely throw his father off course.

"Very well," his father's fingers tightened around the wheel while his glasses glinted completely white, obscuring his eyes. He sighs, "If only I could have prevented this whole… _ordeal_. I'm sorry, Light."

Light hesitated before responding.

"It's not your fault."

"I know, but I'm sorry."

Not another word was spoken.

・・・・

They arrived late in the afternoon. The house was emptier than usual, and Light's father cleared it up rather quickly. His mother was already asleep, likely her nerves, and Sayu had been at a sleepover.

Soichiro offered Light food before going for a rest, but Light reassured him that he wasn't hungry. Light remembered what a plain egg did to him, so he was definitely not ready to try food that legitimately tasted good.

His father told him that has going to head out again for the police station, and the man left as quickly as he arrived. His father never stayed home often.

Light went straight to his room and noted the time: 7:00 PM. His father wouldn't be home until a few hours, and Light would have ample time to prepare for his outing.

First thing was first, he had to fashion a mask. He looked through his room, haphazardly tossing things onto his bed in lieu of a better place to put them. He sighed in frustration when he realized that he had nothing better than simple school supplies.

If he only had paper to work with, then he was going to have to be creative. He wasn't going to draw anything, that would waste time, but he needed to determine the best way to make eye-holes. Or if two eye-holes were even needed.

Whilst pacing around the room in thought, he finally saw his reflection in the TV screen on his desktop. His eyes widened considerably as he finally registered the one, unmistakably black and red eye in the reflection. His right hand drifted up to the right side of his face where the exceedingly noticeable pupil glowed a red hue in the black that surrounded it. His other eye was just as normal, and he immediately knew that he was going to have to make a single eye-hole.

Staring at his reflection, he pondered as to how it became this way. He hadn't been aggravated at the hospital, so none of the staff knew that he had a "kakugan". Perhaps it was his frustration now that caused this to happen.

He continued staring into the screen as he tried to calm himself down, he thought practically and started mentally planning out the mask and his outfit to leave in. Nothing that could be attached to him; he was _safe_.

With that thought, the strange kakugan disappeared with a blink. He blinked again, and it didn't re-appear.

Well, that was sorted. He moved on quickly; there was much to do.

With only paper and various school equipment at his aide, Light decided to use simple writing paper and cut it into the shape of his face. He then, without much effort, hole-punched the sides of the mask to attach a rubber band he had split. He tied the ends into the sides of the mask and hole-punched the mask again to create a wider eye-hole.

The product looked rather scrappy, but it did the job just fine. He could see out of the eye-hole and his face was fully obscured, so the mask was functional enough.

He then started looking around his drawers for something inconspicuous that he didn't need to wear as a student or, well, _himself_. He eventually stumbled upon a plain, fairly unnoticeable white sweatshirt and some black jeans. These were throwaway clothes for now; he would need to buy something more reasonable and unrestricting.

He folded them and hid the three items under his bed for when he would change at midnight. The clock read 8:00 PM now; a whole hour of prep. He'd stay up late tonight, so he shrugged his clothing off and settled in for the night.

He'd sleep for four hours and then he would leave at midnight.

・・・・

Light blinked at the light of his analog clock, ominously glowing in a way that lit the room red. It was midnight, and his father had already come home; he heard the somewhat loud slam of the door and heavy steps up the stairs. Of course, his father checked on him and quickly left.

That left him alone; both of his parents were definitely asleep.

He could definitely afford to leave now, but he would have to be silent.

He got up slowly, taking great care as to not make the floor creak loudly. Luckily enough, it didn't groan under his weight. It was fairly quiet outside, so it would have been especially harmful if he had made such a noise.

He crouched down and grabbed the clothing he had folded before; slipping the sweatshirt on over his pajama shirt, which was a T-shirt unlike normal, and changed into the darker jeans. He pulled the mask on and strapped the rubber bands around his head, wincing a bit when it squeezed against his head. There was nothing he could really do about it, so he grit his teeth and went onwards.

He slid the hood over his head and meticulously tucked his hair underneath the mask and the hood. He knew that there could be absolutely nothing tying his human identity to his ghoul one; even a DNA sample was enough to topple his ruse.

When he looked in the glass of his TV again, he saw a dimly lit figure with rather un-noticeable features. Only a single, brown-hued eye shown through the paper mask. It was perfect for its purpose.

He moved towards the sliding door to the balcony quickly. He had only a few hours to make his move if his father were to wake up at his normal time. He would need to find something decent to work with, a whole corpse would be the best possible outcome. A suicide victim would work perfectly, he theorized.

He had a semblance of his plan as he slipped out the crack of the sliding door. He left only a sliver open in order to return later on, and he faced the two-story jump in front of him. Ayato had said that ghouls were more resilient than humans, so a jump like this should be a piece of cake.

He bent his knees as he grabbed the railing to hoist himself to the other side of it. He turned to face the drop again, this time on the other side of the fence. After some hesitation and a healthy dose of fear, he leapt off the balcony with a stifled gasp.

Suddenly, he was free falling. Panic immediately seized him, but he couldn't let it overtake him. Rather than flailing about, he steadied himself in the air and pointed his feet towards the ground. His eyes clenched tight as the air hit them, and he was suddenly on the ground again.

His feet were planted on the floor, his entire upper body crouched downwards. He had made little noise due to the muted pavement, but the shock of the landing left his muscles feeling a little stiff. Despite that, he had made it in one piece.

Part of him cried in despair with the discovery of more proof that he was no longer human, but he shoved those thoughts aside.

He dashed into the nearest alleyway, letting the street signs guide him until he reached a spot his father had complained about quite a bit; it was an intersection where people often committed suicide. Bodies were so common there that reports came in often bi-weekly.

It was a rather secluded area, which heightened Light's hopes. He dashed out the alleyways into the main street, jay-crossing rather haphazardly. He reached the other side stealthily and immediately noted the smell of blood– the iron-like smell was incredibly distinct– and he looked around in hopes of spotting a body.

Unfortunately, there was none to be found. He sighed rather heavily.

"Ah, disappointed, are we?" a voice said clamorously from behind him. Light felt his right eye twitch, and he looked behind him abruptly. "This is a popular spot for ghouls, I've noticed. Easy bait."

" _B–be careful,"_ Ayato suddenly chimed in. Light was startled; this must have been serious for the boy to intervene whilst under a grudge.

The figure approached slowly, barely illuminated by the street light near the alley entrance. The man's white hair contrasted vividly against the darkened brick walls of the alley, and the man's suit suggested something sinister.

" _Shit, investigator!"_ Ayato exclaimed loudly in his head, and Light took a few steps back in caution. _"This guy's CCG, RUN!"_

Light did _not_ need to be told twice. He bolted the other way and barely picked up the man's words.

"Hmm, it's almost a shame you don't want to fight," the man taunted, voice still startlingly close. Light glanced behind him and saw that the man was in hot pursuit, a metal briefcase in tow. "I'd love to test my new toy out! "

" _Light, you need to use our kagune,"_ Ayato blurted speedily. He stammered, _"Or at least get up; this guy can't follow you if you can get on top of the building! Just jump and use the window ledges to throw yourself further."_

Light had absolutely no clue as to how to use his kagune, so he had no choice but to take Ayato's second piece of advice. He slowed down slightly, wincing a bit, and bent his knees to get some force going. He took a running start and jumped towards the side of the alleyway, his hands scrambling for something to hook onto. His fingers barely latched onto the edge of the apartment building's window ledge, and Light hoped he hadn't brought more attention to himself.

The CCG investigator came to a halt below him, and Light continued to dangle over the two stories he had jumped up. His other arm started to get a handle on the ledge, and he was sure he could make it to the roof in one piece if he had a few more seconds.

A gun cocked below him, and he broke into a sweat. Another glance showed him that the man's briefcase was gone, replaced with a strangely colored pistol aimed straight at him.

"Desperate now?" the investigator steadied the pistol in his hands and smiled manically. His expression resembled that of a rabid animal, "I love it when they run."

There was a loud, resounding click and signature boom, and Light flinched immediately. He was ready for the pain to explode in his back and for his body to crash into the ground, but surprisingly nothing happened.

He looked down again, now balanced on the window ledge. His hand grasped for the roof which was inches within his reach.

"A blank!?" the investigator nearly screamed. The man shook the pistol violently and his frenzied eyes darted between Light and the pistol. He reloaded it again, and Light took that as a sign that he should leave immediately.

He hoisted himself above the roof with relative ease as the sounds of clicking and gunfire rung out from the alley. They eventually stopped when Light went out of the man's sight, but the cursing remained. He stumbled backward, barely able to catch his breath.

He got up slowly, but he rushed himself forward to jump to the next roof. The jumps were erratic and he stumbled a bit upon the landings, but it got much easier as he continued hopping farther and farther away from they alley he had found himself in.

" _I think,"_ Ayato broke into his latest landing, tone pensive, _"I think we're safe."_

" _Are you sure?"_ Light asked Ayato earnestly; the kid had better awareness than Light put together, so he could afford to be reliant on him.

" _Yeah,"_ Ayato said weakly. The kid sighed and his voice went low, _"I'm sorry, I'm fucking stupid. I'm an asshole. I shouldn't have fucking ignored you like that, I should have_ _ **known**_ _it would lead to this."_

" _Ayato…"_ Light spoke tenderly. While Light did assign _partial_ blame to Ayato, it was his own fault that he decided to come to that spot. It was a recipe for disaster since it had been infamous for suicide; a CCG officer would be hounding those types of areas. Light took full responsibility for this, and he knew that he couldn't go to these types of spots in the future. If he was going to scavenge then he was going to have to get creative.

" _I can't let you do this,"_ Ayato finally burst out. _"We're gonna die if you go on like this. I'll lead you to a place where we can get help."_

Help sounded good; great, actually. Light nodded in response and listened for directions.

・・・・

The building they had stumbled upon was rather modern; Light was fairly sure he had followed Ayato's instructions to the dot, so this must have been the place.

" _Use the back door, the owner'll be upset if you don't_ ," Ayato startled him, but Light nodded curtly in response.

He walked to the side of the storefront of what seemed to be a café, which struck him as rather odd for a ghoul haven, and entered the side-alley to the left of the building. He crossed behind the building and found a solid metal door that read "EMPLOYEES ONLY".

" _Go ahead, knock,"_ Ayato ordered. _"Yoshimura should be up at this time, the man never sleeps."_

Light did as he was told and knocked on the door rather softly. He waited a few moments for someone to show up, and he then banged on the door louder.

" _Oh, don't forget to take off your mask too,"_ Ayato informed him. _"It's, like, kinda rude."_

At this point, Light could care less for politeness but he understood that he shouldn't be rude to someone who could help him. He slid his hood off and snapped the mask off his face, stuffing it rather abruptly into his sweatshirt.

The door suddenly creaked open, startling Light so much as to make him take a step backward, and a voice protruded from the door.

"Ayato, you've final–" the door fully opened, and Light was met with the face of an older man with greying hair and an apron. The man's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before returning into a carefully neutral expression.

The door opened wider.

"Ah, where are my manners," the older man gestured towards the building while bowing deeply.

"Welcome to Anteiku."

・・・・

 **I hope I did a good. Please review, and I have a tumblr account for updates and extras. That also includes questions. It's on my profile if you're interested.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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